Sam Smith was subjected to a bizarre verbal attack that was captured on video and shared on social media.
“You belong in hell!,” screamed an unidentified woman with an Irish accent. “You demonic twisted sick b*****d!”
Smith, who was making their way into the Central Park Zoo in New York City, paused to record some of the tirade on their phone. Smith's bodyguard stood between the singer and the crazed heckler, who was seated on a bench.
The woman went on to defame Smith by calling them a pedophile. “Leave the kids alone you sick f**ker,” she bellowed. “You’re evil!”
Just as the clip ends, someone else can be heard shouting “Illuminati!”
Smith, who adopted gender-neutral pronouns in 2019, has been under attack by religious extremists since his recent performances of “Unholy” with Kim Petras at the Grammys and Brit Awards.
Smith has not shared video of the attack on social media and has not commented publicly on the incident. In an Instagram Story, they added a heart emoji to a screenshot of an excerpt from an interview in which an interviewer asked writer James Baldwin if artists are here to disturb the peace. "Yes, they have to disturb the peace," Baldwin replied. "Otherwise, chaos."
On social media, many are calling out the unhinged woman’s vitriol.
“Nothing like a good Catholic forgetting the commandments,” read one tweet. “Bet she goes to church every week where pedophile priests were protected for decades. She'll be in the confessional booth for a long time after that obnoxious behaviour.”
Another person reacted: “That’s totally wrong and probably crazy. Sam Smith is a composer of songs and there is no such a thing as the devil. So he’s gay ! His performance on stage was just a song and dance. Stop the hate !”
Someone else tweeted: “Cherry on top is her yelling profanity and protecting the children…while children walk by. Good job practicing what you screech.”
Others reacted with a shrug.
“Meh. Just another day in NYC,” read one reply. “More notable was how warm it was in February.”