This beautiful Hurts music video tackles anti-LGBT violence
Pop duo Hurts have released a new music video tackling anti-LGBT violence head on.
The UK electro-pop duo released the video for their new single Beautiful Ones, which was released ahead of their upcoming fourth album.
The video for the track stars the band’s lead singer Theo Hutchcraft, portraying him as the victim of a shocking anti-LGBT attack.
Filmed backwards, the video begins at as Hutchcraft is naked, bloody and bruised in a car.
Time rewinds throughout the video, showing a horrific violent anti-LGBT attack by a group of men, who beat and kick the singer, stripping him of a wig and women’s clothes.
The end of the track rewinds time further, showing the singer in drag at a a party, rejecting an advance from the same men who would later attack him.
A description states: “Hurts return with the release of their brand new single Beautiful Ones which the band describe as a ‘celebration of individuality’, arrives alongside this startling new video.
“The video to Beautiful Ones is one of provocative poignancy.
“Themes of hate, love, brutality and beauty are explored throughout the piece which is rooted in both intrigue and empathy.”
The clip has been well-recieved by fans.
One fan wrote: “Thank you for sharing this message. The visuals may be shocking but this is a brutal reality in more countries than people think and we shouldn’t be blind to that.
“No one ever should be humiliated, hated, exposed to violence or even killed because of being who they truly are.
“We are all unique, we are all beautiful ones indeed.”
The track will be extra-poignant given the band’s popularity in Russia and Eastern Europe, where anti-LGBT violence is a growing problem.
The video is strikingly similar in tone to Arcade Fire’s 2014 video for track We Exist, which starred Amazing Spider-Man’s Andrew Garfield.
That video features Garfield putting on a wig, bra and make-up, before going out in public for the first time and suffering a transphobic beating.
After the beating, Garfield breaks out into a defiant dance routine, before joining the band on stage to finally be accepted by thousands of cheering fans.
At the time that clip was criticised by Against Me!’s lead singer Laura Jane Grace for not featuring an actual trans person.
She tweeted: “Dear Arcade Fire: maybe when making a video for a song called ‘We Exist’ you should get an actual ‘trans’ actor instead of Spider-Man?
“It’s called “We Exist” and there is no representation of that existence.
“There are many Trans/non-binary people who don’t have to act gender queer to do a flash dance scene.”
Related: Christian rock star’s music video features same-sex kiss in church
