Twitter users have leapt to Sam Smith's defence after their provocative new music video was accused of 'normalising porn' on Good Morning Britain. You can watch journalist Alex Phillips slam the vid below:
Phillips criticised the clip for Smith's new single 'I'm Not Here to Make Friends' amid a huge wave of backlash following its release on Friday (27 January).
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The extravagant video sees the 30-year-old performer galavant around a mansion wearing a corset and suspenders, with similarly scantily clad dancers.
There are countless sexual references and raunchy moments, which has led to viewers calling for it to be censored due to its 'vulgar' and 'hyper-sexualised' content.
"This is the problem. We live in an age now where porn is becoming so normalised. It’s in music videos, it's in fast fashion that’s being marketed to teens and we also live in an age where we know people are getting sexually assaulted at school,” Phillips said.
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“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the reporting of things like sexual assault, sexual attacks, relationships falling apart, the swipe left, swipe right generation – it’s bad, it’s unhealthy, it’s not good for society and this is a symptom of it.”
People have come out in support of the ‘Unholy’ hit maker, claiming that female artists have released similarly shocking videos in the past and haven’t received the same backlash.
Fans of Smith, who identifies as gay and non-binary, have also argued that the harsh reactions to the clip could be due to people’s response to its queer imagery.
One Twitter user said: “Frankie Goes to Hollywood did this in the 80’s - ‘old news’!”
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Another social media user wrote: “Good grief! "Offensive"? I'm old enough to remember the 80s music video scene. Sam, bless 'em, barely twitches the 'controversy' needle! I do get strong Prince Charming vibes though...looks like it was a hoot to film.”
While a third added: “This young blonde lady getting narked about #SamSmith‘s pop video clearly wasn’t around when #FrankieGoesToHollywood‘s first promo for 'Relax' was first shown. That was 1983. That would have blown her mind. It’s nothing new. A regurgitated storm in an outraged teacup.”
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There were also lots of comparisons to Madonna, who has pushed people’s buttons by expressing sexual themes in her music videos over the last 40 years.
Good Morning Britain guest Shivani Dave argued: “What I think the difference here is Sam Smith was assigned male at birth and we are not used to seeing people who are assigned male at birth dance around in lingerie and corsets and things like that.”
Who'd have thought someone who started off singing piano ballads would cause so much drama.
Topics: Celebrity, Good Morning Britain, Music, News, Sam Smith
Gregory Robinson