NEW YORK — Sam Smith was reportedly targeted by hateful harassment while walking in a park in Brooklyn earlier this week.
In a video currently circulating on Twitter, the British pop star is seen typing on their phone, when a woman starts yelling vicious homophobic and transphobic insults at the singer.
Smith — who’s nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns — then proceeds to walk, apparently unbothered by the attack, while at least one other person appears to join in the chorus of hate.
“You belong in hell! Sam Smith belongs in hell! You demonic, twisted, sick bastard,” one woman is heard saying. “Leave the kids alone, you sick f–! Sam Smith is a pedophile!” the woman adds.” You sick motherf—, Sam Smith! You’re evil!”
Towards the end of the 30-second clip, which was posted on Twitter late on Wednesday, one man can also be heard calling Smith “groomer,” a slur commonly used by members of the far-right to advance a false narrative that LGBTQ people want to “recruit” young people.
Earlier this month, the British singer-songwriter won their fifth Grammy Award for “Unholy,” a collaboration with German-born pop star Kim Petras.
Smith and Petras, shortly after winning the award for best pop duo performance, delivered a show-stopping rendition of their global hit.
“Unholy” — a club-ready song about adultery, debauchery and a “dirty, dirty boy” — debuted in the No. 1 spot in the U.K. charts in late September before reaching the top of the charts in countries around the world.
The Grammy performance featured Smith dressed in red latex and wearing a devil-horned top hat, while Petras, who’s trans, sang and dance in a cage guarded by three she-devils. The performance was immediately slammed by conservative viewers as “evil,” “satanic,” “degenerate filth” and an example of the “normalization of satan in pop music.”
The “vile, despicable, and downright disgusting performance” also led to at least 18 complaints filed with the Federal Communications Commission, according to TMZ.
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