No one can stop the Catholic Church from being a total buzzkill — not its sort of chill pope and definitely not pop singer and former Disney Channel star Sabrina Carpenter. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are all absolutely seething over Carpenter’s latest music video, but Carpenter, if a recent interview is any indication, cares not one bit.
It started on October 31 — a day that already leaves the clergymen feeling disgruntled and also the day Carpenter released the music video for “Feather,” which shows her being hit on by a series of creepy men who then meet grisly ends. Part of the video was filmed in Brooklyn’s Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, where Carpenter danced around a bunch of pastel coffins (presumably containing said creepy men, considering one of the coffins says “RIP BITCH”) while wearing black tulle lingerie.
This was far too much for the diocese of Brooklyn’s higher-ups. In a statement released several days after the music video came out, the HBIC (head bishop in charge) Robert J. Brennan said he was “appalled” by Carpenter’s display of blood and sexiness, and incensed that diocesan policy was, in his estimation, not properly followed when the church okayed the production. The church’s pastor, Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, was promptly stripped of his administrative duties — though, in an apology letter published a few days later, he claimed his parish was unaware of the video’s content when they approved the filming. Meanwhile, Bishop Brennan performed a special Mass of Reparation to re-sanctify the church, cleansing its gilded apses of Carpenter’s sins.
What does Sabrina have to say about all this? In a Variety interview released on Tuesday, she teed up a stunning rebuttal to the Church’s big hissy fit. “We got approval in advance,” she told the magazine, “and Jesus was a carpenter.” Hard to argue with that, hmmm, Bishop Brennan?
