‘SNL’ Fans Debate Whether Katy Perry’s Current Tour Is Worse Than Her Hilariously Bad Musical Performance on the Show
The oft-mocked pop superstar Katy Perry says that she’s sick of social media mobs treating her like a “human piñata,” but Saturday Night Live fans want to know if that metaphorical piñata is possibly filled with fresh fruit.
On May 20, 2017, Perry appeared on SNL as that weekend’s musical guest, bringing along the popular Atlanta-based rap group Migos who featured on her then-new single "Bon Appétit." When Perry took the stage for the second time to perform the new single with the visibly uncomfortable rappers, the ill-fitting combination of A-list musical talent led to one of the most awkward musical performances on the sketch show since Ashlee Simpson prospector-jigged her way into SNL infamy.
Don't Miss
Today, as Perry’s ongoing “Lifetimes” tour draws fiercely negative reviews while clips of the pop star performing some strange choreography go viral with millions of hate-views, the SNL fandom looks back on the time when Perry swung her elbows around like she was decorating a used car dealership before offering Offset some unwanted papaya:
In a viral thread on the front page of the Saturday Night Live subreddit, titled, “Does The Badness of the Katy Perry Lifetimes Tour Actually Rival Her Infamous Performance on SNL?” Saturday Night Live fans noticed that Perry’s awkward arm movements in the viral videos from her recent performances look suspiciously familiar — all they’re missing is a pile of assorted fruits.
“That robotic attempt at a Cabbage Patch has earned a cease and desist from Hasbro and several robotics companies,” one SNL fan snarked of Perry’s produce-themed dance moves.
Another fan speculated, “I just know that Chloe Fineman is begging to impersonate this lol.”
One more added of Perry’s current stage presence, “She went full Frankenhooker.”
Other more forgiving SNL viewers defended Perry (but not her dance moves), and argued that the social media pile-on that’s been growing in popularity since the singer took part in Blue Origin’s all-female space flight isn’t a proportionate reaction to Perry pulling a wasteful PR stunt. As some fans pointed out, in the aftermath of Perry’s cringe-worthy SNL appearance, some inside sources claimed that Perry’s awkwardness with Migos was due a last-second change to the performance for which the rappers were responsible.
Following the 2017 SNL disaster, anonymous sources claiming to have been involved in the musical guest performance said that Perry was supposed to perform “Bon Appétit” alongside multiple drag queens who had performed with her on a previous song that night. Supposedly, Migos objected to sharing the stage with drag performers, leading to the uncomfortable and complete lack of on stage chemistry between the rappers and the pop star.
However, following the public accusations of homophobia against Migos, both the rap group and one named drag queens who performed with Perry denied that there was any behind-the-scenes drama, and the performance of “Bon Appétit” went exactly as planned, besides, presumably, an improvised papaya toss here and there.
Ultimately, both the online reaction to the 2017 SNL performance and the viral videos from the Lifetimes tour are bringing more attention to Perry and her music than the music itself can attract, so, hey, maybe this could simply be a “no press is bad press” situation for the singer. Perry might as well profit off of the internet’s sour grapes.
