Sam Smith, a five-time Grammy winner, was subjected to a hateful tirade from a woman with an Irish accent while walking in a New York City park, according to a video going viral on social media.
“You belong in hell!” the heckler with an Irish accent shouted at Smith as they walked by.
“Sam Smith belongs in hell! You demonic, twisted, sick bastard," the heckler yelled.
“Leave the kids alone, you sick f***er," she continued, "Sam Smith is a pedophile!"
One onlooker interjected "rumor!" to the presumably Irish woman's unfounded allegation of pedophilia.
The woman accused Smith of "groomin' the kids."
"Ya sick motherf***er, Sam Smith," the woman said, "you're evil!
Smith - who’s openly nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns - managed to not overtly react but filmed the heckler as they walked by.
On Twitter, Irish drag queen Panti Bliss - aka Dr. Rory O'Neill - slammed the incident as "straight up harassment and abuse."
I regret using the word “heckler”. This isn’t heckling. This is straight up harassment and abuse.
— Dr Panti Bliss-Cabrera (@PantiBliss) February 16, 2023
Smith has been the focus of some vitriol since their performance of "Unholy" with Kim Petras, who is openly transgender, at the Grammy Awards earlier this month. Smith donned a red top hat with horns while Petras wore a fitted red ensemble during their act.
That same night, the duo became the first transgender and nonbinary winners of the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Reporting on Smith being harassed in New York City, the LGBTQ+ publication Them said: "In the past few years, 'groomer' has become the right wing’s favorite slur for seemingly any and all LGBTQ+ people existing in public.
"That’s largely happened in tandem with the passage of laws such as Florida’s 'Don’t Say Gay,' which elevated the idea that LGBTQ+ people 'groom' children into 'gender ideology' simply by being open.
"In fact, an August analysis from the Human Rights Campaign and Center for Countering Digital Hate found that usage of the word 'groomer' exploded 406% on Twitter after the passage of that law."
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