The indie-folk singer whose U.S. tour was canceled after she launched into an anti-gay tirade onstage is raising eyebrows yet again.
The Associated Press reports that Michelle Shocked appeared outside Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz, Calif. on March 28, wearing in a white disposable safety suit with her face covered and mouth taped shut. The tape slapped across her lips read "Silenced By Fear," according to the report.
Shocked apparently did not speak or sing at the sit-in, but nonetheless strummed her guitar and invited passers-by to write on the safety suit with a black Sharpie.
Moe's Alley was one of several venues to quickly pull the plug on a scheduled Shocked performance after the singer's anti-gay gaffe; her entire U.S. tour has reportedly since been canceled. But earlier that day, the 51-year-old Shocked hinted at plans to appear at the venue on Twitter despite the cancellation:
Moe's Alley opted to replace Shocked's canceled performance with a gay-friendly double bill that included "butch power pop trio" Beaver Fever and "legendary queer party band" Frootie Flavors, according to SPIN magazine. But the club's owner Bill Welch told the AP that his patrons would "not be bashing Michelle Shocked."
He added, ""Rather we will celebrate music, diversity and send some healing Santa Cruz energy her way."
Similarly, Seattle's Meander's Kitchen scheduled a "Queer Burlesque and Cabaret" show, with proceeds benefiting local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, in place of Shocked.
Shocked's sit-in was merely the latest in what has become a series of bizarre antics that began during her March 17 performance at San Francisco jazz club Yoshi's. "I live in fear," Shocked told the audience, as reported by SFist, "that the world will be destroyed if gays are allowed to marry."
She then added, "You can go on Twitter and say Michelle Shocked said 'God hates fags.'"
Days later, Shocked apologized for the remarks in a statement released via CNN, but the damage had already been done. "I'm very sorry: I don't always express myself as clearly as I should," she said at the time. "But don't believe everything you read on Facebook or Twitter."
She added, "My view of homosexuality has changed not one iota. I judge not. And my statement equating repeal of Prop 8 with the coming of the End Times was neither literal nor ironic: it was a description of how some folks -- not me -- feel about gay marriage."
In 1990, Shocked opened up about coming out and having a relationship with a woman. But the born-again Christian's tune changed a decade later when she denied all gay labels.
H/T The New Civil Rights Movement for video footage.
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