Michelle Shocked lived up to her nom de plume on Sunday (March 17) by telling a San Francisco concert audience that gay marriage will lead to the apocalypse during a series of bizarre homophobic rants. According to the Bay Area Reporter, Shocked (nee Karen Michelle Johnston) played a two set show ...
Michelle Shocked lived up to her nom de plume on Sunday (March 17) by telling a San Francisco concert audience that gay marriage will lead to the apocalypse during a series of bizarre homophobic rants.
According to the Bay Area Reporter, Shocked (nee Karen Michelle Johnston) played a two set show at Yoshi’s. The former Grammy nominee completed the first set without a hitch. The second set, however, went awry as soon as she told the crowd it would be “all about reality.”
As detailed in the Reporter:
“‘When they stop Prop 8 [the California initiative that banned gay marriage] and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilization and Jesus will come back,’ she said.
“Loud gasps were heard from the audience. Many fans walked out.
“’I believe the Bible is the word of God,’ Shocked continued.”
Shocked continued her rant, culminating in the line “You are going to leave here and tell people ‘Michelle Shocked said God hates faggots.'”
To the venue’s credit, the Reporter says it attempted to stop the disaster.
“A Yoshi’s manager announced, ‘Thank you for coming ladies and gentlemen. This show is over.’
“‘It’s not over,’ Shocked protested and she continued to sing.
“Management cut off her microphone and shut off the stage lights. Shocked continued to sing for her few remaining fans.”
Shocked, 51, came into prominence with a 1986 European bootleg of one of her shows, ‘The Texas Campfire Tapes.’ Her next three albums, ‘Short Sharp Shocked’, ‘Captain Swing’ and ‘Arkansas Traveler’ were Grammy nominees, each charting in the top 50 in the UK.
Shocked was at one point a hero of LGBT community. She left her sexuality up to question in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. By the mid 90s, she announced being born again as a Christian.
In 2011, Shocked told the gay-friendly Christian audience of the Wild Goose Festival “Who drafted me as a gay icon? You are looking at the world’s greatest homophobe. Ask God what He thinks.”
Shocked’s scheduled upcoming appearances in Bolder, Colorado and Evanston, Illinois have been cancelled.
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