Kesha faces backlash over 'insensitive' Jeffrey Dahmer lyrics

The release of Netflix’s true crime drama, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, has inspired people to dredge up popstars’ old lyrics.

Katy Perry was the first star to face backlash for her 2013 hit Dark Horse, in which the hit-maker crooned: “She's a beast/ I call her Karma/ She eats your heart like Jeffrey Dahmer.”

Now, it’s Kesha’s turn as her 2010 song Cannibal is currently being slammed on Twitter for its lyrics, with many calling Kesha’s songwriting ‘insensitive’ in light of the Netflix series' release last week.

Kesha wrote the song with Pebe Sebert, Joshua Coleman and Mathieu Jomphe, and although the track didn’t do particularly well upon its release, it had something of a re-up back in 2020 thanks to TikTok.

Given the title, it won’t come as a surprise to hear that human-on-human consumption features heavily in the song, and supposedly all that cannibalism is a metaphor for Kesha’s tendency to plough through boyfriends. 

"Your little heart goes pitter-patter, I want your liver on a platter," the lyrics sing.

“Be too sweet and you’ll be a goner, yeah, I’ll pull a Jeffrey Dahmer. I eat boys up, breakfast and lunch, then when I’m thirsty, I drink their blood.

“Carnivore, animal, I am a cannibal. I eat boys up, you better run."

Listen to some of the song below:

The track’s currently a hot topic on Twitter, with one person writing recently: “Kind of insane that Kesha casually had a line in her song about how she’d pull a Jeffrey Dahmer.”

A second person echoed: “I just learned who Jeffrey Dahmer is and I knew his name was familiar because Kesha put his name in her lyrics for her song ‘Cannibal’. I need to delete that song now. Why the heck do we give fandom to these sickos?! Of course Netflix makes a series about it.”

“The casual mention of jeffrey dahmer in kesha’s song cannibal has never really sunk in until now and what the f**k,” tweeted someone else.

Others were quick to point out that the situation might be overblown.

“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?” queried one social media user.

“People mad at Kesha and Katy for having lyrics about Jeffrey Dahmer in their songs from last decade,” said another.

A third tweeted: “Everyone suddenly condemning song lyrics that mention Jeffrey dahmer…. Please don’t cancel Kesha, Cannibal was a bop regardless.”

Similar tweets were posted about Perry’s lyrics, with one person saying: “Katy Perry should catch some heat for using the lyric, 'She eat your heart out like Jeffrey Dahmer'. The level of disrespect to the victims and their families."

UNILAD has approached representatives for Kesha and Perry for comment.

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