Sam Smith and Kim Petras stole the show Sunday at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards with a performance viewers are calling “demonic” and a “tribute to Satan.”
Smith and Petras, who went on to take home the award for Best Pop Duo or Group Performance, took the stage to perform “Unholy” wreathed in red amid fire and red lights.
The 30-year-old Smith wore a horned hat and dog collar while his dancers used “props that had allusions to BDSM themes,” according to a report.
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“Unholy” has many sexual themes and name-drops Balenciaga, a fashion house continuing to face backlash over a controversial ad campaign that featured young children and BDSM props.
“I think a lot of people, honestly, have kind of labeled what I stand for and what Sam stands for as religiously not cool,” Petras, a biological man, said. “And I personally grew up wondering about religion and wanting to be a part of it, but then slowly realizing it doesn’t want me to be a part of it.”
“So, it’s a take on not being able to choose religion and not being able to live the way that people might want you to live because, you know, as a trans person, I’m kind of already not wanted in religion.”
Smith and Petras’s performance was ripped by conservatives on social media.
“Sam Smith stages SATANIC Grammy performance with strippers, devil horns Petras danced in a cage, Smith wore devil horns while dancers in long red robes with long straight hair fawned around him in a ritual circle,” Turning Point USA founder and President Charlie Kirk tweeted.
Definitely not a spiritual war. pic.twitter.com/5fnpiZ0SSj
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 6, 2023
“Definitely not a spiritual war.”
“Don’t fight the culture wars, they say,” one political commentator posted. “Meanwhile demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan. I could throw up.”
Don’t fight the culture wars, they say. Meanwhile demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan. I could throw up.
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) February 6, 2023
“I know we on the right probably use the word satanic too often but this [performance] from Sam Smith is literally a tribute to Satan,” another user tweeted.
I know we on the right probably use the word satanic too often but this peformance from Sam Smith is literally a tribute to Satan. pic.twitter.com/1GrNgjssZN
— Ben Kew ? (@ben_kew) February 6, 2023
“People like Sam Smith who love to mock Christianity and use Satanic themes always think they’re super edgy artists by doing it,” according to one commentator.
People like Sam Smith who love to mock Christianity and use Satanic themes always think they’re super edgy artists by doing it. In reality it’s not edgy. It’s boring, vile, rehashed shock tactics that Hollywood seals clap for because they’re evil & stupid. pic.twitter.com/Hmfo31M5NM
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) February 6, 2023
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“In reality it’s not edgy. It’s boring, vile, rehashed shock tactics that Hollywood seals clap for because they’re evil & stupid.”
