Now that the Super Bowl is over, it is time to make way for all of the new memes and conspiracy theories that have emerged from some of its most famous audience members.
One particular National Football League (NFL) viewer revived some good old satanic panic amongst internet users, with rapper Ice Spice sparking bizarre conspiracy theories regarding her supposed demonic gestures.
The Munch (Feelin’ U) hitmaker was Taylor Swift’s guest on Sunday (February 11), and she was spotted in the V.I.P. section at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, alongside a group of other A-list celebrities.
While some NFL supporters funnily pointed at Ice Spice’s visible confusion of the sport, with a few clips showing Taylor’s friend Ashley Avignone appearing to explain the rules of the game to her, as per The Independent, other more serious American football fans pointed to what they believed to be a more sinister gesture.
Ice Spice sparked bizarre conspiracy theories regarding her supposed demonic gestures and inverted cross
The 24-year-old rapper, whose real name is Isis Naija Gaston, was also seen making some hand gestures and wearing an inverted cross, also known as a St. Peter’s cross, and, naturally, people immediately assumed she was exhibiting some demonic behavior.
Some tried to defend the New Yorker, as a person took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to explain: “Ice Spice went to Catholic school and in an interview says she prays every day. I find it hard to believe she’s ‘demonic.’
“Then there’s St. Peter’s cross, which is traditionally Christian. A lot of Christians are unaware of this cross because they don’t read Christian history.”
Ice Spice was Taylor Swift’s guest on Sunday (February 11), and was spotted in the V.I.P. section at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada
According to The New York Times, Ice Spice played volleyball at the Catholic high school she attended in the Bronx.
Nevertheless, many X users concerned with evil forces potentially threatening them flooded social media with satanic panic, as a person wrote: “Taylor Swift’s guest Ice Spice wearing demonic clothing…
“This is what Taylor Swift and her people represent…”
Ice Spice was spotted making the classic “rock on” sign, popularized by heavy metal singer Ronnie James
Another X user commented: “Nothing to see here, just Taylor Swift’s guest Ice Spice throwing up demonic signs while wearing an upside down cross, making sure the world sees it on the big screen. DEMONS.”
It has since been reported that Ice Spice’s cross was designed by celeb jeweler Alex Moss and that it has no devil ties behind it whatsoever.
Sources told TMZ that the pendant is made from black gold, a new material that’s been developed that Alex is using in a forthcoming collection.
The rapper’s St. Peter’s cross, which was a gift from rapper Playboi Carti, ignited a Satanic panic
The insiders also said that Ice Spice is the first star of her caliber to have this sort of piece in her possession and that it was rapper Playboi Carti who gifted it to her.
Nevertheless, not all Super Bowl viewers saw red, as many highlighted Ice Spice’s feared hand gestures as the classic “rock on” sign, which she did while music was playing, HuffPost reported.
According to Blabbermouth, it is the iconic heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio who helped popularize the gesture, but he said he learned it from his Italian family, who used it to ward off the “evil eye,” and that it had nothing to do with supporting Satan.
The Satanic panic has seemingly made a comeback since the 1980s
Nothing to see here…
Taylor Swift being an alcoholic while Ice Spice throws up some demonic and Satanic hand gestures.
These people worship and work for the Devil.
Wake up‼️ pic.twitter.com/qinVC4Q3dj
— Evan Kilgore 🇺🇸 (@EvanAKilgore) February 12, 2024
The Satanic panic was a moral panic consisting of thousands of unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse, often involving child abuse, alleged in the United States in the 1980s, spreading throughout many parts of the world by the late 1990s.
The movement regularly blamed heavy metal music as a recruitment tool to lure teenagers and morally corrupt them.
Decades later, the devilish panic has seemingly made a comeback, with popular culture and social media ferrying ideas about satanism and widespread child abuse, from the fringe to the mainstream, NBC News reported in 2022.
Saint Peter’s cross is associated with the martyrdom of Peter the Apostle, but in recent times, it has also been used as a Satanic symbol
Ice Spice went to Catholic school and in an interview says she prays every day. I find it hard to believe she’s “demonic.”
Then there’s St. Peter’s cross which is traditionally Christian. A lot of Christian’s are unaware of this cross because they don’t read Christian history. pic.twitter.com/OC5uBFiyzI
— Eric (@EricsElectrons) February 12, 2024
The reactions that emerged from Lil Nas X’s music video for his Montero (Call Me by Your Name) song embodies the new wave of satanic panic, as the artist’s imagery of lap dancing for the devil invited shocked coverage from conservative Fox News commentators and condemnation from some religious political leaders.
Moreover, conspiracy theories similarly engulfed the tragedy in Houston at the Astroworld music festival in November 2022, in which 10 people were crushed to death as the rapper Travis Scott performed on stage.
As per NBC, social media sleuths gathered live streams of the performance and pieced them together to come to an otherworldly conclusion: that the concert was actually a satanic ritual.
The satanic panic has also been arguably repopularized amongst conservative crowds with the QAnon cult, which has pushed the conspiracy theory that there is a secret cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles controlling the world.
Some religious social media users said the rapper wasn’t even trying to hide the alleged satanism
