Singer Michelle Shocked, who was most popular in the '80s and '90s, went on a homophobic tirade over the weekend in San Francisco, much to the surprise of the audience watching her performance.
It all went down Sunday night at Yoshi's, a San Francisco jazz club and restaurant. When she first took to the stage, things were fine; but during her second set, Shocked launched into an anti-gay rant.
"I live in fear," Shocked said, as reported by SFist, "that the world will be destroyed if gays are allowed to marry."
"You can go on Twitter and say Michelle Shocked said ‘God hates fags,'" the 51-year-old alternative-funk musician told the crowd, according to Queerty.
Concert-goer Matt Penfield, who was on stage live-tweeting the concert for Shocked, was appalled. He described her diatribe as "totally sincere," "super anti-gay" and "hateful."
According to the Village Voice, the audience cleared out in horror.
A tweet sent from Shocked's verified Twitter account appeared to reference the incident:
In 1990, Shocked opened up about coming out and having a relationship with a woman. But the born-again Christian's tune changed a decade later when she denied all gay labels. Shocked has since referred to herself as the "world's greatest homophobe," according to the Best of New Orleans blog.
In a 2008 interview with LGBT publication The Dallas Voice, Shocked seemed to be grappling with her feelings.
"According to my Bible, which I didn’t write, homosexuality is immoral. But homosexuality is no more less a sin than fornication. And I’m a fornicator with a capital F," she told the Voice."I like the sound of being called an honorary lesbian and the comparisons to black disco divas. But right now, I’m a dug-in-the-heels fundamentalist who’s not too happy about it."
The singer is set to continue a tour of the West Coast and Europe. Her next show scheduled for March 23 in Santa Monica, Calif.
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