Elton John blasts Vatican ‘hypocrites’ for condemning same-sex unions after ‘investing millions’ in Rocketman
(Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage/Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
Elton John has called out the Vatican over its “hypocrisy” in rejecting blessings for same-sex marriages in the Catholic Church after it invested in – and turned a profit from – his Rocketman film.
In an explanatory note published on Monday (15 March), the Vatican said the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex marriages because God “does not and cannot bless sin”. The letter – which was approved by Pope Francis – said some churches had begun offering blessings to gay couples due to a “sincere desire to welcome and accompany homosexual persons” into their institutions.
But the Vatican said that a blessing can only be bestowed on a couple who live according to the “designs of God inscribed in creation”.
John took to social media to express his shock at the Vatican’s statement, noting that the church invested “millions” in his biopic Rocketman.
He wrote: “How can the Vatican refuse to bless gay marriages because they ‘are sin’, yet happily make a profit from investing millions in Rocketman – a film which celebrated my finding happiness from my marriage to David?” He ended the post with the hashtag “hypocrisy” and tagged the Vatican, Pope Francis and his partner David Furnish.
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Vatican invested millions in Elton John’s Rocketman
The Daily Beast reported in 2019 that the Vatican had a “$4.5 million expenditure recorded in February related to finance for the 2019 films Men in Black: International and Elton John‘s rather steamy biopic Rocketman, which portrays the entertainer’s drug problems and is the first studio movie to portray gay sex between men in an authentic way”.
Rocketman opened in May 2019 and was a box office and commercial hit garnering over $195 million worldwide on an estimated $40 million production budget. The film depicts Elton John’s rise to fame as well as his search for love.
Even though John and Furnish’s relationship isn’t depicted in the film, fans do learn at the end of Rocketman that the singer found the love of his life. The couple recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of their civil partnership in December.
John and Furnish shared pictures from their civil partnership ceremony in 2005, alongside a photograph from their 2014 wedding reception.
