Katy Perry is addressing the backlash she’s received following the all-female Blue Origin space flight she took part in earlier this month, along with journalist Gayle King and billionaire Jeff Bezos’ fiancée, Lauren Sánchez.
In the comment section of a Katy Perry Brasil fan page post on Instagram, the pop star wrote a lengthy message on April 29, assuring fans that she is doing well amid the criticism she’s received in the last few weeks.
Under a post featuring a billboard for Perry’s “Lifetimes Tour,” which began on April 23 in New Mexico, the star thanked fans for their support, writing, “I’m so grateful for you guys. We’re in this beautiful and wild journey together. I can continue to remain true to myself, heart open and honest especially because of our bond.”
“Please know I am ok, I have done a lot work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me,” the Hot N Cold singer continued.
She said that her therapist told her something years ago “that has been a game changer,” adding, “‘No one can make you believe something about yourself that you don’t already believe about yourself’ and if I ever do have any feelings about it then it’s an opportunity to investigate the feeling underneath it.”
“When the ‘online’ world tries to make me a human piñata, I take it with grace and send them love, cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed,” she wrote.
“What’s real is seeing your faces every night, singing in unison, reading your notes, feeling your warmth. I find people to lock eyes and sing with and I know we are healing each other in a small way when I get to do that.”
Perry said she’s “not perfect” and that she has “omitted that word from my vocabulary.”
“I’m on a human journey playing the game of life with an audience of many and sometimes I fall but … I get back up and go on and continue to play the game and somehow through my battered and bruised adventure I keep looking to the light and in that light a new level UNLOCKS,” her commented concluded.
The 40-year-old performer has also received online hate for showcasing a series of space-like themed outfits during her new tour as many fans thought the outfits were a nod to the pop star’s space journey. Her dance routines — also space-themed — were the target of mockery as well.
Perry previously told The Associated Press that her tour was inspired by movies like The Fifth Element and Blade Runner because she wanted to build her sets around video game characters who fight evil forces.
Perry made headlines earlier this month when she blasted off into space on a Blue Origin rocket as part of the latest mission, called NS-31.
She was joined by King, Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn on the all-female crew on the New Shepard rocket, a 59-foot-tall (18-metre) suborbital spacecraft. This marked the first all-female flight crew in more than six decades to head to space.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
Blue Origin said that the New Shepard crew reached an altitude of more than 346,000 feet, with the mission taking just over 10 minutes in total. But many celebrities shared their reactions to the flight, including actor Olivia Munn, who accused Perry and the crew of being “gluttonous” by taking the trip.
“What are they doing?” Munn said while guest co-hosting Today With Jenna & Friends on April 3. “I know this probably isn’t the cool thing to say, but there are so many other things that are so important in the world right now.”
“I know this is probably obnoxious,” she continued, “but like, it’s so much money to go to space, and there’s a lot of people who can’t even afford eggs.”
Munn said the nearly 11-minute flight resulted in “a lot of resources being spent,” adding, “What’s the point? Is it historic that you guys are going on a ride? I think it’s a bit gluttonous.”
Reality TV star Gabby Windey addressed the flight in an episode of her Long Winded podcast, saying, “OK, Katy Perry going to space. All women crew. Oh, wow, we’re gonna send all the girls to space in case they blow up. This is not about empowerment. This is a case study.”
“You’re gonna risk your life for a 10-minute flight? No way,” Windey added. “Oh, you want to see Mother Earth? Have you heard of Google Earth? It’s the same.”
Model Emily Ratajkowski shared her thoughts on TikTok, saying, “That space mission this morning, that’s end-time sh–. Like, this is beyond parody.”
“Saying that you care about Mother Earth, and it’s about Mother Earth, and going up in a spaceship that is built and paid for by a company that’s single-handedly destroying the planet? Look at the state of the world, and think about how many resources went into putting these women into space, and for what?” she asked, adding, “What was the marketing there? And then to try to make it like … I’m disgusted. Literally, I’m disgusted.”
Comedian Amy Schumer shared a video to Instagram, joking that she had been added to “space” last second.
“I’m bringing this thing,” Schumer said, showing a Black Panther toy, mocking all the items the women on the flight brought to space. “It has no meaning to me, but it was in my bag, and I was on the subway, and I got the text, and they were like, ‘Do you want to go to space?’ so I’m going to space.”
Fast-food chain Wendy’s even got in on the action and asked if they could send Perry back to space in response to a post announcing that the singer had returned to Earth.
“I’m a woman send me to space,” the Wendy’s account added. “When we said women in stem this isn’t what we meant.”
King has also addressed the criticism following the flight and took aim at people referring to the mission as “a ride” saying, “You never see a man, a male astronaut, who’s going up in space and they say, ‘Oh, he took a ride.’ It’s always referred to as a flight or a journey, so I feel that’s a little disrespectful to what the mission was and the work Blue Origin does.”
King told Extra that she isn’t letting the “haters” bring her down. “I know there are cranky Yankees, I know there are some haters, but I’m not gonna let people steal my joy and steal the joy of what we did or what we accomplished that day,” she said. “I’m just not going to let it in. I’m not. And these are some of my friends that are throwing shade!”
