Katy Perry has described herself as ‘a human piñata’ after she was repeatedly mocked online following her Blue Origin space flight organised by Jeff Bezos.
Her latest tour has also become the subject of endless memes with the pop singer appearing to put on a series of uncharacteristically downbeat performances.
And that appears to have been enough for the Firework singer to lambast her critics in an emotional rant.
Katy posted a lengthy message after being moved by a gesture from some of her most dedicated Brazilian fans, who clubbed together to pay for a digital billboard for 24 hours in New York’s Times Square declaring their support.
The billboard read: ‘Congratuations on the opening week of the tour. We are so proud of you and your magical journey. And we love you to the moon and back!
‘Know that you are safe, seen and celebrated. We’ll see you around the world, this is just the beginning! From your worldwide cats!’
Katy, 40, reacted to the gesture and hit out at the internet as ‘a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed’.
Katy Perry has described herself as ‘a human pinata’ after she was repeatedly mocked online following her Blue Origin space flight organised by Jeff Bezos
Katy’s outburst was in reaction to her fans paying for a billboard to show the singer their support
The Firework singer to lambast her critics in an emotional rant which she wrote underneath a post by a fan group on Instagram
Alongside the video showing the billboard, the caption and subtitles read: ‘@katyperry has taught us that love is the key that opens every door. Today, we wanted to remind her that she is never alone; our love for her is boundless, unwavering, and eternal’
She wrote: ‘I’m so grateful for you guys. We’re in this beautiful and wild journey together. I can continue to remain true to myself, heart open and honest especially because of our bond. I love you guys and have grown up together with you and am so excited to see you all over the world this year!
‘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.
‘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.
‘I can continue to remain true to myself, heart open and honest especially because of our bond.’
She added: ‘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.’
Alongside the video showing the billboard on the fan account, the caption and subtitles read: ‘@katyperry has taught us that love is the key that opens every door. Today, we wanted to remind her that she is never alone; our love for her is boundless, unwavering, and eternal.
‘So, for the next 24 hours a very special message from her katycats all over the world will be playing at Times Square.’
Clips from her tour where she appears stilted have been posted on social media
‘She just looks tired and bored,’ one person noted on TikTok
‘It’s ok to retire, girl,’ another person said in a comment that has racked up over 50,000 likes
Katy was criticised for her part in Bezos’s all-female Blue Origin space flight, during which she sung Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World to her fellow passengers, and held up the setlist for her new tour to an in-flight camera.
The women were accused of being ‘tone deaf’ for taking part in such a fleeting and expensive trip at a time of economic struggle along with Gayle King and Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez.
One critic was British singer Lily Allen who said of the trip: ‘Do we want to talk about Katy Perry and her mates all going up to space for 12 minutes? I mean, what the f****** hell is that all about? But in all seriousness: What? Why?’
She added: ‘We’re on the brink of recession, people are really f****** struggling to make ends meet and get food on their table.’
However, singer Lily apologised this week for ‘being mean about Katy, saying that although she disagreed with the flight, there was no need to join the ‘pile on’ against the singer.
She said on her podcast ‘I would actually like to apologise for being mean about Katy Perry last week. There was actually no need for me to bring her name into it, and it was my own internalised misogyny.’
‘I’ve been thinking about it a lot and it was just completely unnecessary to pile on with her. And I disagree with what it was that they did but she wasn’t the only person that did it.’
But Lily was far from the only one to critise Katy’s space flight, with critics saying her antics were an insult to NASA’s stranded astronauts.
Katy Perry immediately kissed the ground after spending just three minutes in space. The move has spark fury among the public who said it was an insult to NASA’s astronauts who were stranded in space for more than nine months
The singer emerged from the Blue Origin and immediately dropped to her knees to kiss the dirt, elated to be back on solid ground after her mere 11-minute-round trip, of which only three minutes were spent in microgravity.
While Katy may have viewed the gesture as a joyful moment, the public has slammed it as the ‘ultimate insult’ to NASA astronauts who were stranded in space for more than nine months and who now face a tumultuous health battle.
Several A-list celebrities also shared their distaste. Model Emily Ratajkowski said: ‘That space mission this morning? That’s end time s**t. Like, this is beyond parody.
Actress Olivia Munn slammed the space mission ahead of its launch, saying:’I know that this is probably obnoxious – but like, it’s so much money to go to space. You know, there’s a lot of people that can’t even afford eggs.’
Even fast-food chain Wendy’s took a dig at Katy on social media, commenting on a picture of the singer kissing the ground: ‘Can we send her back.’
Her latest tour has also become the subject of endless memes with the pop singer appearing to put on a series of uncharacteristically downbeat performances
Katy previously revealed the real reason for her recent underwhelming concert performance which was due to a voice problem.
In backstage footage from Mexico she posted to Instagram, Perry said she had been ‘struggling for the past few things with my voice, having a flu-cold thing.’
She is now facing blistering scrutiny on her new Lifetimes Tour, as she struggles to sell tickets for her U.S. dates which kick off in Houston, Texas, in two weeks time.
The singer was also criticised for her role in Jeff Bezos’ all-female Blue Origin space flight, which has proven to be controversial because of its cost and environmental impact.
As one of the passengers on the 11-minute excursion, Perry was especially derided for singing to fellow travellers during the journey and kissing the ground after they landed.
