Maroon 5's dark and bloody new video for "Animals" is being slammed as "dangerous" and called a "stalker's fantasy" by the sexual assault support group RAINN.
In the video, released on Monday, lead singer Adam Levine portrays a bespectacled butcher who, when he's not groping bloody animal carcasses in meat lockers, is stalking a woman (played by his real-life wife Behati Prinsloo). He follows her in the streets, breaks into her home and crawls into bed with her while she sleeps, unaware that he is next to her. Then his fantasy turns into a sexual blood bath.
"Maroon 5's video for "Animals" is a dangerous depiction of a stalker's fantasy — and no one should ever confuse the criminal act of stalking with romance," Katherine Hull Fliflet, RAINN's vice president of communications said in a statement on Wednesday. "The trivialization of these serious crimes, like stalking, should have no place in the entertainment industry."
And RAINN isn't alone in its disgust with the video. Numerous fans took to Twitter following the video's release to express outrage as well. But what's interesting is that "Animals" is the second single off of the band's most recent album "V," which was released at the end of August. If anyone was really listening to the song, perhaps they might have noticed that it pretty much mirrors the video, and tells the equally creepy story of a man who refuses to let go of a past relationship.
"Baby, I'm preying on you tonight / Hunt you down eat you alive," Levine sings. "Maybe you think that you can hide / I can smell your scent from miles / Just like animals."
And in another verse he sings, "Yeah, you can start over, you can run free / You can find other fish in the sea / You can pretend it's meant to be / But you can't stay away from me."
Obsessive lovers have always been a theme in pop music (The Police, Blondie and Maroon 5 -- again), but that doesn't make it any less creepy. And with shows like CBS' "Stalker" further trivializing serious problems, do we really need Adam Levine trying to make stalking look sexy?
Request for comment made to Maroon 5's rep was not immediately returned.
Survivors of sexual assault can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1.800.656.HOPE and online at rainn.org.