“Prince was just too nasty for me. I grew up in the church,” she said.
My first inclination was to defend the musical icon I loved so much.
“Well, you know he wrote 1,000s of songs—over 40 albums, and only a relatively small portion of those could be considered ’nasty.’”
“Well, all the ones I ever heard were nasty,” she said, dismissing my point.
“Awww. I feel so sorry for you,” I responded, making sure she tasted every bit of my derision.
I find it fascinating when people, particularly religious folks, try to thwart the honor due an artist because of what they perceive to be “bad” about the artist’s work. They cast judgment on those of us, also of faith, who choose to celebrate these artists for their amazing genius by accusing of us of “worship” or “idolatry.” In the case of Prince, while the overwhelming response from most people—including those who identify as people of faith—to his sudden death has been both grief at the loss and celebration of the work, there has also been a contingent who, on Facebook posts and memes dripping with shade, have chosen to emphasize the overt sexuality in some of Prince’s work in an attempt to reduce the man and what he contributed to the world through music to just sex.
HeARTtalk - Healing Through Art and Story 