Featured Image Credit: Katy Perry/Youtube/World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Katy Perry, Music, Celebrity, Film and TV, Crime, Social Media, Twitter
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Katy Perry, Music, Celebrity, Film and TV, Crime, Social Media, Twitter
People are calling out Katy Perry for her 'disrespectful' lyrics in Dark Horse which 'romanticise' serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
Oh, to be 13 years old again and dancing round my room, hairbrush in hand, belting along to Katy Perry's latest pop hit, 'Dark Horse'.
However, little did many of us realise - until nearly 10 years after its release - one of its lines has a much darker meaning and directly references an American serial killer.
As a result of a new Netflix series titled Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Dahmer's crimes have become more well-known and subsequently music fans have been quick to call out Perry over her controversial lyrics.
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'Dark Horse', featuring rapper Juicy J, was the first promotional single of Perry's fourth studio album, Prism.
While the song was released in 2013, it has once again become a hot topic of conversation in light of the Netflix series which raises awareness of Dahmer's crimes.
One of the song's lines, sung by Juicy J, reads: "She's a beast/ I call her Karma/ She eats your heart like Jeffrey Dahmer."
Dahmer was a prolific serial killer who murdered a total of seventeen people between the years 1978 and 1991.
As well as murdering the men and boys, he also admitted to dismembering and eating the flesh of some of his victims, subsequently earning himself the names the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster.
Music fans have since taken to social media to condemn the 'vile' lyric.
"Katy Perry and Juicy J literally sang a song saying “she eats your heart out like Jeffrey Dahmer” which i find disrespectful asf to the families," one Twitter user said.
Another wrote: "I didn’t know who Jeffrey Dahmer was until last week but now knowing what he did, Juicy J is sick for making people especially little kids sing that man’s name and Katy Perry is also sick for allowing that lyric in her song."
"It still upsets me when I hear the line in the song Dark Horse "She eats your heart out like Jeffrey Dahmer" and I always make my daughter turn the station. It's so disrespectful to the victims families. I hope people remember them while watching Netflix. Sorry for their losses," a third said.
However, Dark Horse isn't the only song to reference the Milwaukee monster.
Kesha, Eminem and Marilyn Manson have also been called out online for using his name in their lyrics.
Part of a verse from Kesha's song 'Cannibal' reads: "Use your finger to stir my tea/ And for dessert I'll suck your teeth/ Be too sweet and you'll be a goner/ Yeah, I'll pull a Jeffrey Dahmer."
Although, some have argued that given how long ago the songs were released, the musicians shouldn't be facing as much heat as they are.
"Wait..... are ppl BARELY finding out who Jeffrey Dahmer is because of the Netflix show? And just now getting offended by a lyric in Katy Perry's song "Dark Horse" that came out 10 years ago?" one user said.
Another wrote: "Are twitter people really trying to cancel katy perry and kesha for mentioning jeffrey dahmer on their songs almost 10 years after they were released? [They] really only found out about jeffrey bc of netflix in 2022?"
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has raised awareness of the 'systemic prejudice and police prejudices' which allowed Dahmer to get away with his crimes for so many years, while also aiming to give a voice to victims of the serial killer.
UNILAD has reached out to representatives for Perry, Juicy J and Kesha for comment.
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