Indie folk singer Michelle Shocked is facing some major criticism after going on an anti-gay rant last night in arguably the most gay friendly city in America.
Last night, Michelle Shocked outraged most of her audience and club staff at Yoshi’s San Francisco jazz club by declaring you can go on Twitter and say that “Michelle Shocked says God hates fags”, a statement more commonly associated with the Westboro Baptist Church. She also encouraged all those in attendance to support Proposition 8, the controversial 2008 ballot proposition that bans gay marriage in California, tbat’s currently under review at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ms. Shocked, who had a large following from the lesbian community and herself was rumored to be lesbian or bisexual, had long been politically liberal before becoming a born-again Christian in more recent years. In 2008 while on stage at the Christian-themed Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, North Carolina she said to her audience “Who drafted me as a gay icon? You are looking at the world’s greatest homophobe. Ask God what He thinks.”
Not surprisingly, after 90 minutes into the last night’s show, two thirds of those in attendance got up and left. Staff at Yoshi’s San Francisco also responded by turning off the house lights, shutting down the club and later announced it would offer refunds. In taking a cue from Ms. Shocked, people did take to Twitter, but not in the manner in which she had hoped for. Moments after her hate-filled exhibition at Yoshi’s San Francisco, Twitter’s message board was inundated with surprise, disappointment, and anger. Some believe that her career “is effectively over” and other Tweeted “God doesn’t hate.” The beleaguered singer from Texas responded with a tweet of her own, writing:
Truth is leading to painful confrontation #shortsharpshocked
In response to her comments at one of the top jazz venues in San Francisco, many upcoming appearances of her current tour - “25 yEars of Short Sharp Shock” have been canceled, including shows next week at Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz , the Hopmonk in Napa. At this time her next scheduled appearance at McCabe’s in Santa Monica on Saturday is still on although could change due to the enormous outpour of criticism. All of her scheduled concerts still appear on her official website and there is no word of her performance in San Francisco.
What further damage to her career is uncertain but some venues may not welcome her back in light of her homophobic comments.
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