Controversies

Controversies
Her two songs, "Ur So Gay" and "I Kissed a Girl", have been cited as being homophobic as well as misandric by Glenn Sacks[26] and gay periodicals.[27][28] MSNBC contributor Tony Sclafani wrote: "The litmus test of hypocrisy here is that if you substituted a different minority in Perry’s tunes, they’d never get airplay. 'I Kissed a Black Guy' or 'Ur So Korean' would not be Top 40. For that matter, a song called 'I Kissed a Boy,' sung by a male, would probably die on the vine".[29] Chicago Sun-Times columnist Laura Berman defended the lyrics as positive, arguing that the interest caused by the song "suggests that our society is beginning to accept that there isn't always one box, gay or straight, for people to check".[30]

Perry responded to the controversy about "Gay" with "It’s not a negative connotation. It’s not 'you're so gay', like 'you're so lame', but the fact of the matter is that this boy should’ve been gay. I totally understand how it could be misconstrued or whatever... I wasn’t stereotyping anyone in particular, I was talking about ex-boyfriends".[28]

Anti-knife campaigners criticized Perry after a publicity photo of her clasping a switchblade emerged in June 2008,[31] which was criticized for glamourising knives.[32] The shoot was defended as an effort to give Perry a "sexy, harder edge".[32]

Perry stated that the success of British singer-songwriters Amy Winehouse and labelmate Lily Allen more female artists have been appearing on the charts. She also said that Winehouse and Allen "have introduced America to great music".[33] Lily Allen told a British radio station that "I happen to know for a fact that she was an American version of me" because their record company needed "to find something controversial and kooky like Lily Allen". Allen also called Perry's lyrics "crass".[34] On 9 December Perry apologized to Allen for remarks in which she called herself a “skinnier version” of Allen saying she meant it as a joke.[35]