A Republican running for Secretary of State in Michigan has reportedly dusted off some old-school Satanic panic scare tactics to appeal to her base, suggesting a number of popular musicians are actually in league with the devil.
According to Media Matters, Kristina Karamo, who is running for Michigian Secretary of State, hosted a podcast in the summer of 2020 and claimed that superstar musicians Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish were hypnotising children "under a Satanic delusion."
She called a performance by Grande at the MTV Video Music Awards in which women dancers reenacted Leonardo DaVinci's "The Last Supper" nothing more than a "lesbian orgy."
Ms Karamo also claimed that Beyonce was “working overtime to pull more and more Black Americans into paganism and calling it American spirituality."
Beyonce is the focus of many far-right conspiracy theories alleging she is either a member of the "Deep State" or some kind of cult leader.
Despite the fact that paganism and Satanism are vastly different beliefs, many right-wing Evangelicals often conflate the two.
Ms Karamo has also suggested that Beyonce's husband, rapper and producer Jay-Z, is a Satanist but did contend that there was no "hard proof" to back her claims.
Cardi B was also a target of Ms Karamo's disdain. According to her, the "WAP" rapper's hit was "very obscene" and added to the "filth and sexual degeneracy in our culture."
Even yoga is a tool of the devil, according to Ms Karamo. She called the exercises "a Satanic ritual."
"So people are thinking they're doing exercises, no, you're doing actual, a satanic ritual and don't even know it," she said. "Like, it's not a cultural dance, it's a demonic ceremony. What's wrong with you? But people don't understand that. It’s because our worldview is so skewed."
Ms Karamo – who has been endorsed by Michigan Republicans – also believes that the Capitol riot attacks were an act by leftists, despite the mountains of photo and video evidence to the contrary.
Naturally, she also believes former President Donald Trump's "Big Lie" about the 2020 election, and has ties to the QAnon community. She has attended QAnon conferences in the past and and is a member of a QAnon-connected "coalition" of lawmakers trying to get likeminded candidates elected into secretary of state positions across the country.
The Independent has reached out for comment.
