‘THIS IS EVIL’: Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene rage against ‘Satanic’ Sam Smith

Conservatives are raising all sorts of hell following Sam Smith’s provocative performance of their Grammy-winning track Unholy during Sunday night’s broadcast.

“This…is…evil,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz shared on Twitter as he denounced the show by linking to a post from conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler, who wrote: “Don’t fight the culture wars, they say. Meanwhile demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan. I could throw up.”

“It’s not surprising to see a satanic ritual at the Grammys,” right-wing political commentator Matt Walsh added. “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.”

Bathed in red and wearing a devil-horned top hat, Smith, who came out as nonbinary in 2019, was surrounded by red-robed worshippers while Petras sang her portion of the song in a cage as a group of dancers wearing satanic headgear frolicked around her.

The pair were introduced by Madonna, who praised the two for pushing boundaries.

“Here’s what I’ve learned after four decades in music: If they call you shocking, scandalous, problematic, provocative or dangerous, you are definitely onto something,” said the iconic singer.

Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene also raged on Twitter on Monday.

“The Grammy’s featured Sam Smith’s demonic performance and was sponsored by Pfizer,” she wrote. “And the Satanic Church now has an abortion clinic in NM (New Mexico) that requires its patients to perform a satanic ritual before services. American Christians need to get to work.”

“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,” chimed Human Events editor Ben Kew.

This isn’t the first time the Grammys have inflamed viewers. In 2021, watchers were shocked by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s provocative performance of their single WAP. America’s Federal Communications Commission received over 1,000 complaints following their raunchy staging of the song.

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After their Grammy win Sunday night, Petras, who is the first openly transgender woman to win in the category, thanked “all the incredible transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open before me so I could be here tonight.”

In the press room following the performance, Petras elaborated on the performance: “I think a lot of people, honestly, have kind of labeled what I stand for and what Sam stands for as religiously not cool.

“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,” she said, according to Variety. “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 kind of already not wanted in religion. So we were doing a take on that and I was kind of hell-keeper Kim.”

Perhaps anticipating the swift backlash, the night’s host Trevor Noah had a phony phone call with his mother. “No, mom, it wasn’t the actual devil,” he joked. “Yeah, you did warn me about Hollywood.”

Meanwhile, the Grammy win was Smith’s fifth trophy following their 2015 triumph that saw them take home best new artist, pop vocal album for In the Lonely Hour, record of the year and song of the year for Stay With Me.

mdaniell@postmedia.com