Katy Perry likens herself to “a human piñata” amid online abuse following space trip
Though Katy Perry landed safely back on Earth after her 11-minute foray into outer space, things quickly became dangerous for her in the digital world. Perry has reflected on the online abuse she has suffered, as fans and celebrities alike mocked her trip to the edge of space.
The mission made history as the first all-female space expedition since 1963, using Jeff Bezos’ new autonomous Blue Origin rocket. She soared into the ether alongside broadcaster Gayle King, journalist Lauren Sánchez, rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
Perry has broken her silence on the continued abuse she has been experiencing under an Instagram post by a fan group. To show their support, the group booked a billboard in Times Square to congratulate her on the opening week of her Lifetimes tour.
She began: “Please know I am OK, I have done a lot [of] work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me. My therapist said something years ago that has been a gamechanger, ‘no one can make you believe something about yourself that you don’t already believe about yourself’ and if I ever do have any feelings about it then it’s an opportunity to investigate the feeling underneath it.”
Perry continued: “When the ‘online’ world tries to make me a human piñata, I take it with grace and send them love, cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed.”
The “unhinged and unhealed” consist of colleagues in her field, too. Actors Emily Ratajkowski and Olivia Wilde slammed the journey. In a TikTok video, Ratajkowski said, “That’s end time shit. Like, this is beyond parody.” Similarly, Wilde said on her Instagram story that all a “billion dollars bought [were some] some good memes I guess.”
Perry also added to the post: “I’m not perfect, and I actually have omitted that word from my vocabulary, I’m on a human journey playing the game of life with an audience of many and sometimes I fall but … I get back up and go on and continue to play the game and somehow through my battered and bruised adventure I keep looking to the light and in that light a new level unlocks.”
Despite her latest album, 1432, underperforming, Perry continues on her Lifetimes tour. The US leg will begin on May 7th in Houston; she will eventually begin her European tour on October 7th.
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