 Well, I'm sure that you'll all be surprised to know that conservatives once again are outraged over something completely insignificant This time they're mad about a Grammy performance by Sam Smith and Kim Petras now Unfortunately, I can't play the video clip for you. I'll link to it down below if you want to watch it But you can kind of see from the photograph why conservatives were angry He's wearing a devil hat and they were very clearly going for a satanic-esque aesthetic Ross story explains during the awards ceremony Smith and Petras performed their song on holy with Smith clad in a top hat featuring red double horns and surrounded by red-robed female dancers now on top of that There were flames on the stage. The lighting was red So they were very clearly going for that type of hellish vibe and conservatives were outraged because they thought that it was Promoting satanism now. This isn't the first time that musicians have used this aesthetic And it's not the first time more specifically that lgbtq plus artists in particular Have used this type of imagery now for those of you who don't know sam smith is non-binary and kim petras is transgender Now lil nas x if you'll recall from like a year or two ago Was also in hot water with conservatives because he did the same thing So in his music video call me by your name If you'll remember that when we talked about it on the show actually because once again conservatives were outraged about that He gave satan a lap dance now I don't necessarily know if this is applicable to this particular performance or the meaning behind the song But when lgbtq plus artists Use this type of hell aesthetic there's usually more significance behind that meaning So i'm just paraphrasing what lil nas x said, but what he said was really important So he said that throughout all of his life. He was taught to hate himself for being gay He was told that he would burn in hell for all of eternity if he accepted himself So when he finally decided to stop hating himself and embrace who he was He kind of accepted his fate, you know if conservatives said you're gonna go to hell for being gay Then he said all right. I'm gonna rock it. So in his music video. He owned it He slid a stripper pole Uh or slid down a stripper pole all the way down to hell and he gave satan a lap dance and seduced him Because that's him saying I don't care what you tell me if this is my fate It's not gonna change who I am to my core and if i'm gonna go to hell fine I'll be myself there too. I'll own that too So I can't necessarily speak to the message behind this song But when queer artists use this type of image re oftentimes there is more broadly a meaning behind it But either way conservatives were outraged because it was pretty explicitly satanic And the responses here are genuinely unhinged and especially hilarious Because there was an advertisement from fiser also right after this performance So because of that they're basically saying this is confirmation That the covet 19 vaccine or I shouldn't say that they're saying this they're implying that this is confirmation that the covet 19 vaccine Is the mark of the beast yada yada yada, but i'll just shut up and we'll read some of the responses because these are genuinely hilarious Benny johnson says the grammy's have gone full on satan worship on primetime tv Don't believe me watch and he links to the entire video And look i've got to say I couldn't find the video clip until I saw his tweet So I appreciate him linking to it. I'll link to his tweet if you want to watch it for yourself down below But on top of that lis wheeler writes don't fight the culture wars They say meanwhile demons are teaching your kids to worship satan I could throw up and ted cruise responded to that saying this is Evil charlie kirks says the devil brought to you by fiser And matt walsh chimed in saying it's not surprising to see a satanic ritual at the grammy's Satanism is the worship of the self much of modern pop music is satanic in this sense leftism is satanism The only change is that now they're being more explicit about it Now let me just pause right there So the reference to the satanic ritual is hilarious because The female dancers referenced in the raw story article were like holding hands and dancing around sam smith as they were singing And because of that they're saying that was tantamount to a satanic ritual But I just love that matt walsh here is pretending as if he is Some sort of authority on what is and isn't moral when last week He quite literally called for doctors who give gender-forming care to trans people to be jailed Indefinitely and if he had his way executed So I don't think that he's the best judge on what is and isn't moral But nonetheless, there's more tweets and they get more unhinged from here ben q says 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 Ravi starbucks says sam smith satanic performance at the grammy's ended with a phyzer commercial You can't get it more on the nose than that phyzer and hollywood deserve each other and last but not least this one Is by far my favorite hollywood is infiltrated by satanic radical left lunatics They cancel kanye west over his opinion and his net worth drops by over 50 percent Meanwhile, sam smith is allowed to have a satanic performance at the grammy's that is sponsored by phyzer make it make sense Make it make sense I shouldn't have to make this make sense for you, but i'm gonna do it anyway because i'm a very kind individual The reason why One is okay and the other isn't is because satan who they are allegedly paying tribute to here Is a fictional character whereas hitler who kanye west praised repeatedly Is not hitler is responsible for the death of millions of innocent people So that's why praising one Is different than praising the other these two examples Are not the same. It's a false equivalence. Do you understand this right here? is subjective if you are religious the nods are you're gonna find it offensive if you're not You're gonna find it completely banal as I do because I don't believe in religion I don't believe in satan. That's a fictional character objectively speaking. There's no evidence that satan is real So, you know these conservatives Of course, they were gonna find this offensive And I think that part of the reason why they did this aside from the deeper significance We we talked about the possibility of it of it having is because these types of satanic visuals It gets attention. It's not the first time mind you that musicians have adopted this aesthetic So in 1983, there's a group of gender non-conforming musicians named motley crew Maybe you've heard of them now They released a song called shout at the devil and their vocalist vince neal said that people thought that they were actually satanic and angry But ultimately they didn't really care because they were just having fun And he also noted that the satanic imagery got them more attention. So it was kind of a win-win-win In fact, tom taylor at far out gave a thorough breakdown of the history of conservative outrage over rock and roll With the biggest examples being judas priest gene Simmons from kiss and even elvis being accused of satanism So satanic panic is one of the oldest triggers for puritanical conservatives, right? It's a tale as old as time Usually the female artists get slut shamed while the male artists are accused of promoting satan I mean, it wasn't that long ago. I think it was like 10 years ago when everyone was freaking out because miley cyrus was twerking Oh, no, she's corrupting the youth by twerking So there's always going to be some outrage by evangelicals and conservatives because They view this as like the youth being corrupted Whereas ted crews if you you know Ask him what he listened to when he was younger was probably motley crew was probably these rock and roll artists who Conservatives back then when he was growing up deemed satanic as well. Although. I don't know to be clear But either way, um, of course, they were going to be outraged by this and if they weren't outraged by the satanic aesthetic They would be outraged because this is two members of the lgbtq plus community Being unabashedly proud of who they are with a very important message Now I thought this was really cool because they actually made history at the grammy's not that I am that concerned with the Grammys, but I do think that visibility matters like Out queer people winning grammy's winning awards. That isn't a sufficient substitute for equality obviously But that heightened visibility is really important for LGBTQ plus youth huff post explains smith and petrus who took home the grammy for best pop duo slash group performance for their song Unholy made lgbtq history at the ceremony smith who has won grammy's in years past became the first out non-binary Artist to win the award while petrus a first time grammy nominee became the first out trans woman to win the award Petrus who received a standing ovation during her speech thanked the incredible transgender legends Before her who kicked open doors for her including madonna and the late grammy nominated artist sofi She also gave a shout out to her mother during the emotional speech Quote I grew up next to a highway in nowhere germany and my mother believed me that I was a girl And I wouldn't be here without her and her support petrus said yeah So that's really encouraging to hear conservatives may denounce this performance as satanic But what they're doing objectively is a net good because for young non-binary people young trans people to see That you can make it in this world Despite all of the stigma surrounding your identity despite all of the discrimination that is very very encouraging Times are changing and young lgbtq plus people young non-binary people young trans people can see There are people just like me and it's not weird They can win awards they could be embraced by millions of fans and that is really really important So regardless of what you think of the song or the aesthetic what sam smith and kim petrus are doing here Is actually really meaningful to young lgbtq plus youth and i'm really thankful that there's more representation For queer people in media and in culture because without it you would lead some more people hating themselves Which is ultimately what conservatives want but either way conservatives are going to cry and You can't like try to Taylor your performance or your art or even your rhetoric towards what will or won't appease conservatives because by definition They're hate mongers. They're going to hate you regardless So all you can do is be yourself embrace and celebrate who you are And if they're going to be mad let them be mad either way They're losing the culture war regardless of how much they cry satanic panic and evidence of that is that they've been crying about the same bullshit per decades now literally and They're still losing so let them cry And i say it's really great that sam smith and kim petrus are being themselves and proud of who they are and comfortable in their own skin I think that's wonderful and i'm glad that trans youth and non-binary youth can look to them as examples