Empire Of The Sun: “God Bless The Great Billy Graham”
The world-famous Christian evangelist Billy Graham died yesterday at age 99, inspiring a wide range of tributes and critiques. Some praised his influential and relatively inclusive approach to Christianity, while others took him to task over his views toward gays, Jews, and Muslims among other things. From the Australian synth-pop band Empire Of The Sun, we got a little of both.
The band’s Facebook and Instagram shared a tribute to Graham, captioned, “God bless the great Billy Graham.” Apparently the message originated from singer Luke Steele, and apparently his bandmate, songwriter Nick Littlemore, was among those surprised by it. Littlemore commented on the Instagram post, “Not all of us are interested in celebrating a life of a bigot #fyi 😐”
So… that’s awkward.
Thanks to reader Chris Brandon for the tip.