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This is not the first time a music entertainer has taken a low blow to the Catholic Church. There was Madonna, Sinead O’Connor’s ’92 SNL performance and just a year ago, Lady Gaga’s leaked release of her single “Judas” (about, you guessed it, Judas Iscariot) just seven days before the beginning of Holy Week. However, just because this has happened before doesn’t make it any less confusing, offensive or any less inappropriate.
Without recapping what she specifically did, Ms. Minaj’s Grammy performance mocked Catholic traditions including Reconciliation and the Rite of Exorcism and also included among other things a choir singing “O Come All Ye Faithful” as a Bishop attempted to exorcise a demon from Ms. Minaj herself.
As you can imagine, the reactions were just as you would expect them to be. These two are tweets from two popular Catholic artists, Matt Maher and Audrey Assad.
What frustrated me (besides her performance) was the comments on my Facebook and Twitter feeds saying that there was nothing wrong with Nicki Minaj’s performance. Some even went so far as to applaud her artistic expression. One individual wrote that they “understood why some people may have gotten offended by her performance” but seeing what Nicki’s new musical material is about they “applaud her for taking risks and going for a performance so unique”.
Hold up, I’m sorry. There is nothing that deemed Nicki Minaj’s performance to be unique or risky. She simply mocked Catholics and Catholic traditions and tried to pass it off as art. Worst of all, she was allowed to do so by those who organized the Grammys.This performance was not an accident or a sneaky last minute change by the performer. It was methodically planned, rehearsed and executed all with the approval of the sponsoring organization, The Recording Academy. Would Nicki Minaj have been allowed to perform the same song if she was mocking Islamic or Judaic traditions?
Aside from her performance, I can’t help but think of those teenagers and young girls who view Ms. Minaj as a role model. Recently on the Ellen Show, Ellen featured two girls from London, aged 5 and 8, who performed a part of Nicki Minaj’s song “Super Bass”. These girls are jumping around in their pink tutus, princess crowns and pink glittered microphones singing word for word a song about men who do and sell drugs, drink and party. I even spotted these two little girls on the red carpet of the Grammy’s no doubt there to support the rap star.
In a flurry of tweets by Catholic artists (like the ones above), blogger’s responses and numerous news articles in both secular and religious media, the Catholic League and President Bill Donohue released a press release Monday morning entitled “Is Nicki Minaj Possessed?” commenting on the Grammy performance.
He writes,
It is bad enough that Catholics have to fight for their rights vis-a-vis a hostile administration in Washington without having to fend off attacks in the entertainment industry. The net effect, however, will only embolden Catholics as well as their friends in other faith communities.
He’s right. We Catholics have seemed to come under attack from all angles – the government infringing upon the rights of freedom of religion, the abortion rights debate and attacks from the entertainment industry.
But, we have to remember, that this was just one performance of a young woman seeking attention in a music industry were drugs, sex, scantily clad women and alcohol seem to be the norm. Her songs, music videos and performances are riddled with indecency and immorality. It was a childish attempt by Ms. Minaj to shock and entertain her fans and it came of as ridiculous.
In a small way, I feel sorry for Ms. Minaj, sorry that she feels the only way to gain attention and popularity is to take a stab at the Catholic Church, over one billion strong.
Great article Elizabeth! You’re so right about continued attacks on the Catholic Church and faith. I just saw more articles today (on Yahoo and in Times Magazine) about how Catholic Bishops are wrong and out-of-touch and how people (including cardinals and bishops) are rebelling against the Vatican. The following scripture verse comes to mind as we are enduring more attacks on the faith:
“Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his
mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able
to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our
struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the
powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits
in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that
you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold
your ground. So stand fast with your loins
girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the
gospel of peace. In all circumstances,
hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” -Ephesians 6:10-17
Thanks Rita! It just goes to show that we have to be as vigilant as ever in our prayers, fasting and our efforts to protect the Catholic Church! I really love that scripture!
This article is completely absurd. I as a Catholic myself found the performance to not offense in the slightest. Ms. Minaj never even directly mentioned the Catholic and for Catholics to offended by this is ridiculous. She was making a statement in reference to exorcisms and I believe she was in no way try to offend our faith. I can even begin to count the amount of times other religions are made a mockery of on national television and we shouldn’t feel like our religion is being persecuted in this instance. As for you being repulsed by the positive reviews that the preformamce has received makes you a pathetic hypocrite. People like you make me question my faith in the Catholic church we are suppose to be children of God that accept others for what they are. I am more sickedned by th outcry than the performance itself. I hope to never have to encounter such a close minded person like you in my life. I love all God’s children and their expressions of freedom because it it there given right. Who are we to judge Ms. Minaj or anyone else that goes against our belifa for that matter. I pray that one day you will be more open and loving to the human race as it is now.
Jesus calls us to love, yes. Although love isn’t always happy and fuzzy. True love showed itself only by our Lord’s death on the cross. He wants us to meet people where they, but out of love, we should not let them stay where they are.
Jesus didn’t come and spread acceptance of the ways of this world, but of the Truth. Jesus calls us to conversion – to become the best version of ourselves. That often means changing our ways, and bringing Christ’s light to the world. If you saw someone on fire and said that it ok because that’s what they wanted to do and it was their expression, you would not be acting out of love.
Love would help us see that they are in harm’s way and need to have that fire put out for their own good. The spiritual just isn’t always obvious or visible.
I encourage you to continue to search for Truth in our beautiful Church, established by Jesus Himself. You will find that it will change your life the more you dig deep and you will want to spread that revolutionary love to everyone too.
People have a right to choose wrongly, but we have an obligation out of love to promote the right choices in Truth. Jesus never promised it to be easy, in fact, He constantly pointed to the cross – death to ourselves.
If you are going to respond to someone’s article, please do not ridicule the person. Present your argument in such a way as to convince the author, not attack them.
As to Ms. Minaj’s “performance,” even though she never explicitly mentioned the Catholic Church, it is clear who she was referencing. The author is not trying to disregard other religions that have been made a mockery of in the media. And stating that those mockeries happen all the time sounds as though you are trying to justify one wrong with another. I don’t exactly understand where the hypocrisy is in the article however, I do see hypocrisy in saying that you love all of God’s children but this one author is a “pathetic hypocrite” and her thoughts are “absurd.” I do not believe that the author is saying that Ms. Minaj does not have the right to express herself, but rather that her expression came with the offense of many people. Furthermore, your argument for not judging was invalid from the moment you started judging the author and what she believes.
Here’s my take on this. Would this performance had not been just as “powerful” if Ms. Minaj had set it in a mental hospital and the performance started with her speaking to a doctor? Why does she feel the need to make a mockery of the Church, Her sacraments, and Her rituals? Is it because we are an easy target that no one except us is going to stand up for? Is it because the “powers that be” know it will drum up controversy and get people talking? More than likely on the first account and we’ve proven the second account accurate. All this ends up being is a cheap publicity stunt performed under the guise of The Grammy’s.
As for the original commentor what’s not to find offense about this “performance”? The alter boy being given a lap dance on a kneeler? The faux confessional at the beginning? The sad attempt to rip off a perfectly good 1970’s horror movie? I would ask him/her to go back and watch the performance with a more critical eye and then decide.
**People like you make me question my faith in the Catholic church we are suppose to be children of God that accept others for what they are.**
Surely you aren’t holding the contributor responsible for YOUR walk. That would be the ultimate in hypocrisy, I would think. Rather, instead of accepting people for what they are, you would be well served to see exactly how that “acceptance” is defined by reading the Catechism or taking some adult faith formation classes. Acceptance does NOT mean accepting sin or challenging people who are living in sin. Your approach basically says “if I saw you standing in the middle of the road and a car was racing towards you at a high speed, I would not judge your decision to stand in the road and, therefore, would not jump to rescue you.”
If that sounds weird to you, try looking up the Spiritual Works of Mercy and see where “instructing the ignorant” plays into it. How would you – “Open minded catholic” – respond to someone who spews things that are anti-Catholic? Would you say something as Jesus calls us to or would you ignore it and blast those who stand up for the Faith?
Sincere question.
Elizabeth, I think you are on the right, sad track. Anti-Catholicism has been called the last acceptable prejudice. Although I didn’t watch the performance in question, the reactions of those whose opinions I trust makes me (a) more inclined to agree with that sentiment, and (b) glad I didn’t see it.
Agreed.
I don’t understand how people can say it was a good performance when (ignoring the blasphemy part) the fundamental part of it, the singing, was as horrible as it was. Reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard… And I know I’m not the only one who’s thinking this way because the TMZ show has been having fun teasing it all week.