Amanda Palmer Comes With Nearly Two Decades of Controversy
"It was a stupid and insensitive mistake, one that I’ve been examining and grappling with since that day in Paris," she wrote.
Published Aug. 3 2024, 10:35 a.m. ET
When a publication deems you "The Most Hated Woman on the Internet," you should probably realize that you've become quite a controversial figure. That's what happened to Amanda Palmer about a decade ago, and the hate is still going as she continues to wind up in controversies.
Amanda is best known as a singer-songwriter and performance artist. She has a strong fanbase but has also racked up plenty of haters who cite her "white feminism" and past controversial comments as a problem.
Over the years, Amanda Palmer has been involved in a number of controversies.
Amanda has left a trail of inappropriate comments in her wake. For starters, in 2008, she used the "r" slur in the Dresden Dolls song “The Kill." Amanda did so not referring directly to a medical diagnosis, but as a way to claim something was uncool.
Her music continued to contain some problematic themes, including a song called "First Orgasm" that details an individual masturbating, fantasizing about children seeing them.
Another song, “Delilah,” includes themes about rape, specifically a line that says, “If you take him home, you get what you deserve!” Many took this to be a line meant to victim blame.
That early music was riddled with much trauma and many complex topics. While some may argue that her artistic work is deeply personal and not necessarily meant to showcase her actual views, others found it inappropriate and offensive.
Amanda later addressed some of her racist lyrics of the past, including quite a few slurs. In 2020, she penned a blog post apologizing for her past and explaining her mindset now.
She addressed a choice she made to keep the n-word in while performing an old song. The singer explained, "It was a stupid and insensitive mistake, one that I’ve been examining and grappling with since that day in Paris."
The star continued to fess up to plenty of moments she said or did racist things, apologizing and explaining her side of the story. She concluded: "Everybody I know is very exhausted right now. Exhausted by entrenched racism, exhausted by the loud and un-nuanced internet, exhausted by not getting things right, exhausted by trying and failing, exhausted by … everything."
She continued: "Maybe, in our exhaustion, we can find a new opening … a space … a clearing, a better way of listening and learning from one another. I want to do this, and I want to do it with you. I hope you do, too."
All of this history came back into the light recently after fans hated a cover of an Encanto song that Amanda did. TikTok was brutal with their opinions, including a hate comment from Justin Bieber.
Fans seemed to take issue with her divergence from the original song which gave it a much more theatrical feel than ever before, incorporating some elements of alternative music.
It didn't seem to bother her, though. "Oh my god the comments," Amanda commented on her video. "Wait until you see my armpit hair and hear the songs of the Dresden Dolls. Buckle up kiddos, this is Amanda f--kin' Palmer."
