23 April 2016

Prince: "God Had Enough of Gays"

Prince
Music artist Prince was found dead at his home and recording studio in Minnesota early last 21 April, his publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, told The Hollywood Reporter. The dizzylingly prolific multi-instrumentalist and virtuosic performer was 57.

Deputies are on scene at Paisley Park in Chanhassen conducting a death investigation currently, authorities said. No further details were immediately available and the cause of death is not being released at this time.

The performer was born Prince Rogers Nelson 7 June 1958, in Minneapolis, Minn.

In 2001, Prince became a Jehovah’s Witness and moved to Los Angeles to "better understand the music industry." In a 2008 interview with the New Yorker, he compared his religious conversion to "a realization ... like Neo in The Matrix."

In that same interview he grew uncharacteristically political, saying, "So here’s how it is: you've got the Republicans, and basically they want to live according to this." (He gestured at a Bible.) "But there’s the problem of interpretation, and you’ve got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn’t."

"And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you've got blue, you've got the Democrats, and they’re, like, 'You can do whatever you want.' Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right," Prince said.

"God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, 'Enough,'" Prince added.

The comments drew applause from many Americans, but it also drew irrational criticism from gay rights groups and fans, many of whom felt the musician had turned his back on them since the days of Controversy, when he toyed with ideas of gender and sexuality and sang on the title song, "Am I black or white, am I straight or gay?"