Satan Shoes Sell Out During Holy Week And Stir Conversation About ‘Church Hurt’
Singer Lil Nas X with the “Satan shoes”.
NEW YORK — As Christians all over the world entered Holy Week, a pair of exclusive, high-priced athletic shoes emblazoned with a pentagram and made with drops of human blood sold out in less than a minute, according to the company that made them.
Singer Lil Nas X, the hip-hop star behind the hit single “Old Town Road”, created the “Satan shoes” with the company MSCHF to coincide with the drop of Lil Nas X’s newest song, “Montero (Call Me by Your Name).”
The music video begins in an adapted Garden of Eden where Nas is tempted by a snake and culminates with Nas giving Satan a lap dance, breaking Satan’s neck, then stealing his horns and assuming the throne. The music video premiered on YouTube March 25 and has surged past 42 million views. The shoes closely resemble the Nike Air Max 97 sneakers and even display Nike’s signature check logo, resulting in threats to boycott Nike and a lawsuit from the brand.
But the real fire on social media began when Nas started a conversation about being gay and feeling harmed by Christian beliefs.
Commenting on the video and its backlash, Nas said on Twitter, “i spent my entire teenage years hating myself because of the shit y’all preached would happen to me because i was gay. so i hope u are mad, stay mad, feel the same anger you teach us to have towards ourselves.”
Amid some celebrity support— pop star Miley Cyrus posed on a vintage Range Rover in her new pair of Satan shoes— many conservatives and Christians condemned the shoes as immoral and offensive.
Conservative political commentator Candace Owens said on Twitter: “Why has “oh, but I’m gay” become a default excuse for immorality? It was Kevin Spacey’s line when he was accused of sexual assault. Andrew Gillum’s when he was caught with a hooker and crystal meth. Now it’s the reason Lil Nas X needs to make a satan shoe with human blood?”
In a recent sermon, televangelist and pastor of Free Chapel church Jentezen Franklin said that “Lil Nas X is doubling down on his demonic imagery… with the underworld in mind.”
The Satan shoes are decorated with a pentagram pendant, the reference Luke 10 (about Satan’s fall from heaven) and contain a single drop of human blood in the sole. Only 666 pairs of the shoes were available, sold at $1,018 per pair. The shoes gained support from high-profile celebrities, including Cyrus and makeup artist James Charles.
MSCHF is famous for its meme-approach to viral products. Past products have included a toaster-shaped bath bomb and “Jesus shoes” with a drop of holy water in the sole. Until recently, their only post on LinkedIn referred to themselves as a dairy company. Their bio currently reads “nothing is sacred.”
Nas engaged the controversy, remixing TikToks from critics, fielding Twitter debates and leaving sarcastic comments in news articles. In one TikTok, Nas said, “Yall telling gay people we going to hell, then get mad when I decide to go!?”
“Old Town Road” busted charts in 2019, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 consecutive weeks and breaking the previous 16-week record held by “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carrey and Boys II Men and “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber.
Amid the vitriol and enthusiasm, a quieter sphere of social media discussed “church hurt” and the LGBTQ community’s experiences with Christian communities. TikToker and public speaker Hannah Mae Jones published a four-part series apologizing to Nas for the hurt he suffered at the hands of Christians.
“I’m not sure any amount of apology could heal your broken heart today,” she said. “But I want you to know that you’re not alone in your anger... because church hurt is something that is so very real.”
The experiences of LGBTQ people in religious institutions has been the topic of much discussion and research amid historic declines in U.S. membership at houses of worship. A 2016 study by the Public Religion Research Institute identified “experience of negative religious teachings about or treatment of gay and lesbian people” as the third leading cause of religious disaffiliation.
Ally Yarid, a Christian writer and influencer who identifies as “Same-Sex-Attracted” said, “The first response every Christian should have had to Lil Nas X was to pray for him. God forgive us. God forgive him.”
Dr. Reverend Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister of Middle Church in New York, expressed similar sentiments. She proposed the week as a moment of reflection for Christians and churches.
“The true religious scandal isn’t how Lil Nas X made that video. It’s that preaching ever made him feel less than beautiful, sacred and beloved,” she said.
The controversy of the week also resonated with ex-vangelicals, a term often used to describe those who grew up in evangelical settings and left Christianity or only evangelicalism later in life.
Chrissy Stroop, a leader in the ex-vangelical movement and author of the book Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving the Church, noted Nas’ reclamation of religious tropes to voice the gay experience.
The video is not meant to be taken literally as Nas worshipping or becoming the devil, she said. Rather, the video is a form of “visual poetry.” It is about taking condemnation from the church and exploiting it for self-love and affirmation.
“People who have been hurt by the church, and particularly conservative interpretations of Christianity, are finally getting their hearing,” she said. “And we deserve that hearing because we are stakeholders in the conversation.”
Liza Vandenboom is a student at The King’s College and the recipient of the 2020 Russell Chandler Award from Religion News Association for excellence in student reporting.