Hollywood’s not-so-secret LGBT agenda was on full display at the Grammys last night. From the eyesore that was Harry Styles’ “clowncore” jumpsuit; to Beyonce dedicating her win to her guncle and the “queer community” (of which she is not a part); to Kim Petras narcissistically crowning himself the first transgender “woman” to win in the Best Pop Duo/Group category, the only way viewers could escape the gay was if they turned off their TVs.
For those who powered through the ceremony, they would have also been subjected to the unsightly and openly satanic performance of “Unholy” by Petras and Sam Smith, who calls himself “nonbinary.” While Petras danced around in a cage surrounded by she-devils (or they-devils?), a latex and high heel-clad Smith led a group of witchy women in a dance clearly intended to mimic devil worship. That Madonna — a woman who looks less human and more diabolic than ever thanks to some gnarly plastic surgery — introduced the performance is fitting.
In her introduction, Madonna smugly alluded to the “controversy” that would soon occur on stage. Though the performance was certainly as depraved, tasteless, and oversexed as the lyrics to the sinful “Unholy” might call for, my main complaint is not that Smith, a gay man, and Petras, a man who purports to be a woman, were flaunting Satanism and anti-family values on live television.
My main complaint is just how boring, unoriginal, and self-congratulatory the performance was.
These days, full-fledged embrace of Satanism and sado-masochism is nothing new or out of the ordinary for Hollywood. Anything that was going to come after Lil Nas X’s “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” music video, featuring a lap dance with the devil, and accompanying Satan shoes would be hard to top. Even so, Hollywood’s pop and hip-hop darlings continue to seize on satanic imagery for their lyrics, performances, and promotional materials as often as they adopt new gender identities or advocate to normalize transgenderism.
But is it just me or is the shtick getting old?
When I watch a performance such as the one described above, I instinctively know that it was both made and not made for someone like me. The twisted minds behind the Grammys want to induce shock and outrage. They revel in any disgust they can produce in conservative and God-fearing viewers, myself included. In the way that this performance was crafted to provoke conservative, churchgoing Americans, it was actually tailor-made for me.
On the other hand, such a flagrant celebration of Satanism, adultery, and LGBT “values” could only gain such a thunderous round of applause at an event like the Grammys — an event filled with a populace so out-of-touch and enslaved to the LGBT agenda and its hatred of God and beauty that they wouldn’t know good art if it slapped them in the face, Will Smith style.
Petras and Smith’s performance, and Hollywood award ceremonies more broadly, are occasions meant to draw crude political lines. If you found the performance distasteful, you are a hateful bigot. If you thought that the performance was a brilliantly subversive triumph for two rich and famous members of the oppressed classes (gay and trans), then you are open-minded and on the right side of history.
So instead of taking the bait, instead of clutching our pearls and (rightfully) condemning the abominations on our TV screens, what if we just called out Hollywood for making bad and boring art?
If you can get past the hypersexed and satanic elements of today’s popular music, you will soon realize that the music itself is objectively bad. It’s boring, trite, and desperate, so embarrassingly eager to shock that it ends up talking about the same few topics (drugs, sex, money) in increasingly debased yet unimaginative and unintelligent ways.
Of course I felt disgusted seeing Sam Smith stuffed in latex like a sausage and singing about adultery. But in no way was I surprised that yet another pop singer thought it would be cool and edgy to promote Satanism. My boredom with Hollywood has officially become stronger than my disgust.
We should not dismiss the open embrace of Satanism and anti-family values in Hollywood. We should continue to denounce it. But in addition to clutching our pearls, we should use our outrage as fuel to create genuinely beautiful art. And I’m not talking about art as thinly veiled political manifestos. I’m talking about art that honors the human spirit and gets at what it means to be a creature made by God, called to partake in both the joy and suffering that comes along with being made in his image.
Dante, Michelangelo, C.S. Lewis — these artists created for the greater glory of God, and think about what wonderful feats they were able to accomplish. Feats that speak to all of humanity, not just the oppressed few.
The call for conservatives to make their own art has been strong and steady in recent years. Many have responded and are doing great work. But we need to ramp up our efforts because this much is clear: Hollywood is full of uncreative, boring clowns.
What will we leave behind for posterity?
