Doja Cat has addressed claims that she’s a “Satanist,” calling the narrative “annoying” and “tacky.”
Speaking to Apple Music’s Ebro Darden, the rapper and singer opened up about her polarizing public persona and alleged ties to Satan worship.
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“I like the idea of: I did it on purpose and it’s this big ruse to make people react,” she said. “But I also like the idea of: I love this piece of visual art, I like this visual for this sound.
“So I chose that visual and applied it to the sound and people made up what they [want], which is what you do with art. “You interpret it how you want to interpret it. Everybody has a right to interpret how they want.”
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She continued: “But this whole very confident ‘Satanism’ thing is like — I’m sorry, when the fuck did I say that I was a Satanist? Or even go marching outside the church? When the fuck did I say that?
“It’s really tacky and annoying and discredits a lot of the hard work that I’ve put in.”
In the video for Doja Cat’s chart-topping hit “Paint the Town Red,” there are numerous instances of Satan-related imagery such as horned creatures and the Grim Reaper.
The Grammy-winner also recently made a painting of the devil which she showed off online.
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Doja is hardly the first rapper to use Satanic imagery in her work. Lil Nas X received similar criticism for his “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” video, while older artists such as Eminem, Three 6 Mafia and DMX have all toyed with similar themes in songs and videos.
Terence “Punch” Henderson, co-president of Top Dawg Entertainment, recently called out the trend on social media: “The demonic influence is getting more and more blatant in this thing. The gradualism was numbing, now it’s just out loud.”
Doja Cat has also received criticism for sporting a T-shirt featuring far-right comedian Sam Hyde. She deleted the initial photo but then reposted it but with Hyde’s face cropped out.
Fans slammed her choice of shirt, with one saying: “Why are you hiding your shirt? embarrassed that you’re wearing something with a nazi on it?”
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Hyde is a comedian who has alleged ties to the far right and has been accused of being a neo-Nazi. He has pledged financial support for Nazi website Daily Stormer and has been involved with numerous mass shooting hoaxes.
