Sketchy Things About Katy Perry That Everyone Just Ignores

Katy Perry has tried to market herself as some sort of civic and socially minded activist, but the "Chained to the Rhythm" singer has a lot of skeletons in her closet, and for some reason, not many people seem to mind or realize it. From allegations of homophobia and anti-Semitism to accusations of mean-girl tendencies, here are just a few sketchy aspects about the pop star's character and career that seem to get swept under the rug.

Though Taylor Swift reportedly instigated her infamous "Bad Blood" drama with Perry during a 2014 Rolling Stone interview, Swift made it sound like Perry's pettiness prompted the bitterness. Swift said her foe "tried to sabotage an entire arena tour" and claimed the subject of her ire was a bit of a mean girl. "For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not," Swift said. "She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think, 'Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?'" After that Rolling Stone interview hit the presses, Perry made an actual Mean Girls (2004) reference that was rumored to be about Swift, tweeting, "Beware of the Regina George in sheep's clothing."

A source told Page Six the feud began over musician John Mayer, who briefly dated Swift in 2010 and eventually moved on to Perry in 2012, noting, "Perry started making digs at Taylor from then on."

Perry also did little to quell the heat when she kept mum after then-boyfriend Diplo attacked Swift's appearance and Swift's fans on Twitter. Perry also made a video of herself at a Kanye West concert during his hotly contested line about Swift in "Famous."

In June 2012, Perry told late night host Jimmy Kimmel that she's "obsessed with Japanese people" and wanted to "skin [them] and wear [them] like Versace." Uh, creepy much? Perry later came under fire in November 2013 for her performance of "Unconditionally" at the American Music Awards, in which she was accused of appropriating Asian (especially Japanese) culture and fetishizing geishas.

The Japanese American Citizens League denounced the performance, saying in a statement, "The thoughtless costuming and dance routines by Katy Perry played carelessly with stereotypes in an attempt to create a Japanese aesthetic. The JACL believes it is important for all who are involved in entertainment production to understand that while audience approval is important, caution must also be the byword to avoid denigrating and marginalizing a portion of that viewership." Even Psychology Today addressed why the performance was deemed racist, noting that Asian Americans often "feel used as props to glorify White artists." Perry also caught some collective side-eye for singing, "getting our nails did all Japanese-y" in her track "This Is How We Do."

The singer's reaction to the criticism wasn't apologetic, contrite, or even surprised. Instead, she dismissed the criticism to Rolling Stone, saying, "I guess I'll just stick to baseball and hot dogs, and that's it. I know that's a quote that's gonna come to f**k me in the a**, but can't you appreciate a culture? I guess, like, everybody has to stay in their lane? I don't know."

Perry's 2014 video for "Birthday" featured a Jewish stereotype that many deemed anti-Semitic. In the footage, Perry portrays a series of characters, one of which is Yosef Shulem, a wedding DJ who says, "I do bar mitzvahs. I do weddings. I don't do funerals...but for a price I'll do your funeral." He then, in a strong accent, makes a joke about a rabbi performing free circumcisions. The character wears a yarmulke and a cheap suit, and Perry portrays him with facial prosthetics and a fat suit. It's the only character in the video with an ethnic basis. The rest of her personas include an aging stripper, a clown, a princess, and an animal tamer. That's bad enough on its own, but even worse when you remember that Perry's parents had to publicly apologize in early 2012 for bashing Jews in a bizarre anti-Semitic sermon.

Perry has yet to comment on or apologize for the video's portrayal of Jewish stereotypes, though she was generous enough to tell Rolling Stone in 2010 that "Jewish people are fine."

When "Roar" first hit airwaves in August 2013, listeners noticed that it sounded a whole lot like "Brave" by Sara Bareilles, which debuted four months earlier. While coincidences happen, fans noted that Perry tweeted her love for "Brave" shortly after Bareilles' single dropped. Producer Butch Walker also called Perry out for allegedly pilfering the track, tweeting, "The new KP song: Chorus is ‪@SaraBareilles, verse jumped on the 'Hey' train, and the teaser vid rips off Fall Out Boy. 3 counts of murder." He added, "@sarabareilles At least if you ripped someone off ever, you wouldn't have to blame some 'track guy' for it."

For her part, Bareilles was diplomatic about everything, telling The Hollywood Reporter, "I don't feel like anything was taken from me artistically. I wasn't the one having any problems with it. I've known Katy a long time. We are friends and she and I spoke about it." Bareilles added, "I look at it as two female artists who are releasing a message of empowerment...We actually talked about it. We're like, 'Should we just work on a mash-up and let everybody know we're not mad at each other?'" Bareilles did tell CBS News: "I can't say that I think that they don't sound similar," but noted that the attention actually helped promote her song. "So, thank you, Katy Perry, for that."

While "Roar" may be the clearest example of Perry's alleged unoriginality, she has faced similar accusations for other tracks: "California Gurls" sounds a lot like Kesha's "Tik Tok." It's worth noting that the similarities between the aforementioned songs may have a lot more to do with the associated music producers, namely Dr. Luke and Max Martin, than with Perry herself.

Alternative rocker Jill Sobule also let loose on Perry, accusing her of jacking the concept and title of "I Kissed A Girl" from Sobule's 1995 release and calling the pop star a "title thieving...f**king little slut" (via Rolling Stone.) In Perry's defense, the magazine noted that song titles can not be copyrighted. Plus, Perry was only 11 years old when Sobule's song debuted.

Perry fell prey to a lip-syncing debacle (or backing track issue, depending on how you spin it) at the NRJ Music Awards in France in December 2013. The vocals started without her, prompting her to awkwardly exit the stage and re-start her performance. A spokesperson for NRJ told the Daily Mail, "Katy Perry was singing live at the NRJ Awards Saturday night in Cannes, but regrettably the wrong mix has been played accidentally which over-rode Katy's live vocal feed on-air at the beginning of her performance of 'Roar.' TF1 & NRJ would like to apologize to NRJ double award winner Katy Perry for this technical problem beyond our control." It wasn't the first time she was busted potentially faking it onstage. In 2011, she was caught faux-playing the recorder while sitting down and not moving, so you can't even blame that on breath control.

Perry told Vanity Fair in 2011, "I didn't have a childhood." She claimed her mom wouldn't let her listen to secular music or watch TV, or even say phrases like "deviled eggs" or "Dirt Devil," adding, "Growing up, seeing Planned Parenthood, it was considered like the abortion clinic. I was always scared I was going to get bombed when I was there ... I think sometimes when children grow up, their parents grow up. Mine grew up with me. We coexist. I don't try to change them anymore, and I don't think they try to change me. We agree to disagree. They're excited about [my success]. They're happy that things are going well for their three children and that they're not on drugs. Or in prison."

However, Star magazine (via Celebitchy) reported later that year that Perry's mother denied all of her claims, telling parishioners at her evangelical church that the singer had a normal upbringing and that she and Perry's father were both extremely proud of the singer.

Perry came up in the industry with Kesha under Dr. Luke's production and songwriting umbrella (he's credited on a lot of her tracks, including "Teenage Dream," "The One That Got Away," "Part Of Me," "Dark Horse," "Birthday," "I Kissed A Girl," and "Hot n' Cold"). In her May 2017 Vogue interview, Perry said she'd never tolerate toxic men professionally and gushed about how women need to use their voices now more than ever for good.

"I wouldn't really stand for [toxic men] in my work life, because I have had so much of that in my personal life," she said, later adding, "I was really disheartened for a while [after the 2016 election] ... Misogyny and sexism were in my childhood: I have an issue with suppressive males and not being seen as equal ... I don't think you have to shout it from the rooftops but I think you have to stand for something, and if you're not standing for anything, you're really just serving yourself, period, end of story .... If you have a voice you have a responsibility to use it now, more than ever."

That's great, right? But then where was she when other stars, including Adele, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Kelly Clarkson (who was also a prior Dr. Luke collaborator), and a slew of others called out Dr. Luke and supported the #freekesha campaign? (Perhaps she kept quiet knowing she'd eventually get dragged into the legal drama herself, but that didn't stop Lady Gaga.)

In a bizarre livestream video with fans on April 28, 2017, Perry read fan comments and responded to some. While that would normally be a pretty pleasant exchange, she made a bizarre and arguably racist remark at a seemingly innocent question.

"Oh, someone says, 'I miss your old black hair,'" she read, replying, "Oh, really? Do you miss Barack Obama as well? Oh, OK. Times change, bye. See you guys later."

He response didn't sit well with many, with one Twitter user writing, "Not Katy Perry pretending to be a woke activist then making an insensitive joke comparing her hair to Obama." Another noted, "I think she shouldn't have mentioned Obama because it makes it seem like she linking BLACK hair to Barack cuz he black," and one snapped, "Dear #BlackTwitter EXHIBIT A. @katyperry – f**k does your stringy ass black dry a** hair have to do with @BarackObama asking for a culture?" Many simply announced that Perry is "cancelled."

Perry's music video for "Bon Appetit" dropped on May 12, 2017. The somewhat NSFW clip opens with Perry in a clear, shrink-wrapped package. Music video director Titanic Sinclair claims that Perry stole the concept from a music video he did previously for Knox Hamilton, "Washed Up Together," which she praised on Twitter, even screencapping her complimenting his work. He wrote, "Here is an old screenshot of @katyperry praising a video I directed and then her blatantly ripping it off in her new video."

Perry didn't comment on the allegation, but some fans pointed out that she also featured plastic-wrapped girls in her "California Gurls" video back in 2010, so the case for Sinclair is, at best, not a tight one.

During Carpool Karaoke on May 21, 2017, Perry discussed her feud with Swift with Late Late Show host James Corden, saying, (via People), "There's a situation. Honestly, it's really like she started it, and it's time for her to finish it. It's about backing dancers, there were three backing dancers ... I tried to talk to her about it and she wouldn't speak to me."

Perry added, "I do the right thing any time that it feels like a fumble. It was a full shutdown and then she writes a song about me, and I'm like, 'OK, cool, cool, cool, that's how you want to deal with it? Karma!' But what I want to say is that I'm ready for that BS to be done."

However, instead of leaving it be, Perry continued, "Now, there is the law of cause and effect. You do something, there's going to be a reaction, and trust me, daddy, there's going to be a reaction. It's all about karma, right? I think personally that women together, not divided, and none of this petty bulls**t, women together will heal the world."

Perry previously blew off her critics who accused her of cultural appropriation, but when her album Witness hit shelves on June 9, 2017, she grew quite contrite, but still managed to eke out excuses for her behavior.

When Black Lives Matter leader DeRay McKesson asked Perry about her "This Is How We Do" video, in which she appropriates black culture, Perry explained, "In my intent to admire and appreciate a culture I actually did appropriate and I made a mistake. I'm juggling 7,000 balls. [A friend] told me about the power in black women's hair and how beautiful it is and the struggle. I listened and I heard and I didn't know. I won't ever understand some of those things because of who I am. I will never understand, but I can educate myself and that's what I'm trying to do along the way."

Speaking of her botched geisha performance at the 2013 American Music Awards, Perry lamented, "I didn't know that I did it wrong until I heard people saying that I did it wrong. It takes someone to say, out of compassion, out of love, 'Hey, this is what the origin is.'" She added, "It's hard to hear those clapbacks sometimes and your ego just wants to turn from them and I've had great teachers who hold me accountable like when I said I wasn't a feminist. My friend Shannon pulled me aside and said, 'Sweetie, here's the Webster definition of feminism and it's just equality.'"

During Perry's Witness Worldwide livestream, James Corden asked the singer to rank her three most recent lovers from best to worst. A faux-distressed Perry placed John Mayer at No. 1, Orlando Bloom at No. 2, and Diplo at No. 3, but noted that they were all "amazing." Perry also noted during the livestream that Josh Groban, to whom she was briefly linked in 2009, was "the one who got away."