Right-wing viewers are losing it over Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ ‘demonic’ Grammys performance
Sam Smith performs “Unholy” at the 65th Grammy Awards with Kim Petras. (Getty Images for The Recording Academy/Emma McIntyre)
Sam Smith and Kim Petras made history at the 2023 Grammys with their win for best pop duo/group performance – but their rendition of “Unholy” scandalised a good deal of conservative viewers with its ‘demonic’ themes.
Taking to the stage with a horror movie-inspired performance, the duo had no shortage of spectacular props to bring their smash hit song to life – even if some viewers believed it belonged in the underworld.
Clad in red leather complete with a devil-horned top hat, Sam Smith kicked off the performance as a troupe of dancers dressed as horror icon Samara from The Ring surrounded them.
Petras was then seen singing in a cage as several dominatrices in red latex clambered over the set, including Drag Race icons Violet Chachki and Gottmik. The entire gag-worthy performance was accompanied by pyrotechnics and demonic red lighting.
Unsurprisingly, the performance hasn’t gone down too well with right-wing viewers.
While the official RuPaul’s Drag Race Twitter account has called the performance their “new religion”, several others have been less than thrilled, even going so far as to call Petras and Smith servants of Satan.
The rendition of “Unholy” has also been branded an example of “the state of the demonic Left.”
Another viewer who purposefully misgendered the non-binary Smith, wrote that the pair were “Degenerate filth”.
We do have to give credit to one Twitter detective, whose skills match even those of Shangela Laquifa Wadley, the Nancy Drew of drag, who has figured out the brains behind the entire scheme.
“Satanic as you want to be. Sam Smith at the Grammys. Sponsored probably by the devil himself, Pfizer?”
Case: cracked! Thanks for the choreo, Pfizer.
While it appears that the segment of the show was indeed sponsored by the pharmaceutical giant, we doubt that they had a hand in the creative vision of Smith and Petras’ performance. We could be wrong though; it’s entirely possible that Pfizer’s CEO also has a BFA in contemporary jazz.
As one fan pointed out, references to the devil are not a new fixture in popular music, because right-wing “numbnuts” complaining about the performance have clearly never experienced “real Satan music” à la Motley Crue and Iron Maiden.
The Grammys made Kim Petras the first trans woman to win the award for best pop duo/group performance. Upon accepting it, Sam Smith graciously gave Petras the spotlight for a speech in which she paid homage to “transgender legends before [her] who’ve kicked these doors open”, Madonna and her late friend, the trans artist SOPHIE.
Other notable Grammy moments included Beyoncé’s nod to the queer community and her late Uncle Johnny as she became the most decorated artist in Grammys history.
Lil Nas X, Sam Smith and Kim Petras are somewhere laughing into their Grammys – and while Rihanna’s selling makeup, at least someone’s there to remind us that chains and whips are still where it’s at.
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