+
Pop Culture

The far-right is calling this viral Grammy performance 'Satanic.' Don't fall for it.

Sam Smith and Kim Petras' performance of "Unholy" left some calling it a satanic ritual.

grammys, sam smith, devil
K.G/Youtube

Sam Smith and Kim Petras performing "Unholy" at the Grammy Awards.

Depending on which corners of social media you call home, few happenings from the 2023 Grammy awards were as divisive as Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ performance of the song “Unholy.” Was it a historic moment of inclusion or a historic display of a Satanic ritual broadcast to the world?

On the one hand, the pair made music history. After winning the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Smith became the first non-binary artist to win the category, along with Petra who became the first trans woman to win the category.

However, not everyone was a fan of their live hell-themed performance, featuring Smith clad in red leather and sporting a top hat with devil horns and Petras dancing in a cage surrounded by dominatrixes.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz took to Twitter to call the act “evil,” and his fury was quickly echoed by other conservative influencers who declared it an example of mainstream devil worship.

“Don’t fight the culture wars, they say. Meanwhile demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan. I could throw up.” wrote conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler.

However, it doesn’t take a lot of research to find out what the artist’s original intentions were behind the song.


In a previous interview with NME, Smith shared that the song was about “liberating oneself from the clutches of others’ secrets.” The song’s lyrics explicitly suggest that the story is about adultery, and touches on the way certain taboo desires are viewed as sins and therefore kept hidden or repressed. For such a large portion of history, this has been a harsh reality of the LGBTQ experience, which makes the theme seem like a creative no-brainer rather than a literal endorsement for satanic worship.

Petras also responded to backlash over the song, telling Variety that the performance was inspired by not feeling accepted by mainstream religion as a trans person.

“I personally grew up wondering about religion and wanting to be a part of it but slowly realizing it didn’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 as a trans person I’m already not kind of wanted in religion,” she said.

Taking it from the song creators themselves, it seems the message really being put out is that of acceptance. Or at least paving your own way when acceptance doesn’t come.

Watch the video below:

True

We’ve all been hearing urgent warnings from scientists, government, and corporate leaders on the need to limit the planet's global temperature warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change.

Several studies, including research from the National Academy of Sciences indicate if we continue on the path we are on, we will likely hit that pivotal moment of global warming in the early 2030s. It’s clear that more needs to be done —and faster—to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and secure a thriving and sustainable economy for everyone.

Broader research is also showing people care more than ever about what companies are doing to address this challenge. In a 2022 global survey from IBM, 51% of respondents said environmental sustainability is more important to them now than it was the year before. And a 2022 Yale survey found that 51% of U.S. business students would even take lower pay to work for a company with better environmental practices — a signal of the topic's importance.

T-Mobile is an example of a company that has led the wireless industry in these efforts starting with its pledge in 2018 to source 100% of its total electricity usage with renewable energy and being the first in U.S. wireless to set science-based carbon reduction goals and then reach them in 2021. This year, T-Mobile stepped up even more by becoming the first U.S. wireless provider to announce a net-zero target for its entire carbon footprint.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Tense video shows a woman filming herself after sensing a man following her. She was right.

“See this gentleman behind me? Yeah, this is what this video’s about.”

@lacie_kraatz/TikTok

Lacie films as the mysterious man visibly gets closer.

It’s no secret that even the most seemingly safe of public places can instantly turn dangerous for a woman. Is it fair? No. But is it common? Absolutely, to the point where more and more women are documenting moments of being stalked or harassed as a grim reminder to be aware of one’s surroundings.

Lacie (@lacie_kraatz) is one of those women. On April 11th, she was out on a run when she noticed a man in front of her displaying suspicious behavior. Things got especially dicey when the man somehow got behind her. That’s when she pulled out her phone and started filming—partially to prove that it wasn’t just her imagination, and also out of fear for her safety.

“Hello. I’m just making this video so that women are a little more aware of them,” she begins in the video. “See this gentleman behind me? Yeah, this is what this video’s about.”

Keep ReadingShow less

Pennsylvania's State Route 100.

A quick-thinking 10-year-old boy escaped a woman trying to lure him by pretending that a local store clerk was his mother. ABC 6 reports that Sammy Green was walking home from school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on Friday, November 11, when a strange woman started following him.

The woman "started walking with him and asking him where his family was, asking where his dad was," Sam Green, the boy's father, told ABC6. The boy didn’t know the woman but she insisted that she knew his family.

She tried to lure him into going with her by promising she’d buy him “anything he wanted” at Wawa, a local convenience store that sells shakes, sandwiches and other treats.

"She was like, 'I'm going to Wawa, are you going there? What are you getting from Wawa? Where's your family at?'" Sammy told CBS.

Keep ReadingShow less

An Italian preschooler's Italian rant has people in stitches.

All people have a need to communicate, but the way we do that varies greatly from place to place. Every culture has its own communication peculiarities that make our human family delightfully diverse.

Not only do humans speak thousands of languages around the world, but we also engage in culturally specific speaking styles, speech patterns and body language, some of which are immediately identifiable.

Case in point: the Italian "finger purse."

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

Every character in Winnie the Pooh has a mental health issue and it's great for kids to see

The wholesome Hundred Acre Wood crew offer a beautiful example of supporting friends with mental illness.

Ernest Howard Shepard (Public Domain)

Winnie the Pooh and his pals exemplify support without stigma.

Winnie the Pooh was a staple in our home when my kids were little. The calm wholesomeness of the Hundred Acre Wood offered a soothing contrast to the internet age's wave of overstimulating and/or obnoxious children's entertainment, and all three of my offspring ate it up. In fact, my youngest, now 14, will still turn on Winnie the Pooh videos when he's feeling nostalgic for his childhood.

The characters created by A.A. Milne in 1926 have been beloved for generations. One obvious reason is the way Milne tapped into the curiosity and wonder of a child's imagination by making a boy's stuffed animals come to life. A less obvious reason—but one that has become clearer as mental health awareness and education has spread—is that the characters seem to represent an array of mental health disorders. Not only that, but they also serve as a beautiful example of how friends love and support one another through mental illness struggles without stigma or judgment.

Keep ReadingShow less

Mom plays Lil Jon to get baby to stop crying.

If you've had a baby or babysat someone else's, then you know sometimes they cry, and there doesn't seem to be much you can do to soothe them. You try all of the things—change their diaper, give them a bottle, do the bounce and sway that just about every parent has perfected. Yet, the wailing continues and you begin to question your life choices.

But thankfully, babies are pretty easily amused...most of the time. Ripping up paper or accidentally stubbing your toe can throw a baby into a fit of laughter. Other times, you have to call in the reserves—Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz featuring the Ying Yang Twins. Nope, I didn't bump my head. Melissa Buckley discovered her 2-month-old son's magic remedy to inconsolable tears is Lil Jon, specifically, "Get Low."

You may be wondering how her infant son has such impeccable taste in 2000s dance music, and the answer is surprisingly simple.

Keep ReadingShow less
via @5kids5catssomedogstoo/TikTok

Lynalice Bandy shares what her home looks like after working six 10-hour days and getting no help from her husband.

A viral TikTok video highlights an extreme version of inequality that many wives and mothers in heterosexual relationships face. However, the mom in this story hit her limit and won’t deal with it anymore.

Lynalice Bandy, who goes by @5kids5catssomedogstoo on TikTok, posted a video that showed her home looking like a disaster after she worked six 10-hour days straight while her husband did nothing to help.

Her time-lapse video shows every room in the house completely trashed, with toys, food and laundry scattered everywhere. "Shampoo on the carpets in the girls' room, nail polish all over Nugget covers, hair, and carpet. Scissors were used to cut hair, the down comforter, the mattress cover, and two Nugget covers," wrote the mom.

Keep ReadingShow less