After 10 of the singer’s 11 upcoming dates were cancelled by the venues, Michelle Shocked has, not shockingly, apologized for her anti-gay comments. Well, sort of apologized.
Shocked issued a statement saying that, when she said things like, “When they stop Prop 8 and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilization, and Jesus will come back” and “God hates faggots,” she was saying that’s what people would say if they hated gay people, not that she hates gay people. Don’t “believe everything you read on Facebook or Twitter,” says Shocked, clearly not knowing that news basically runs off Facebook and Twitter these days.
Her "apology" gets a little hairier from here. Shocked doesn’t really think that “God hates homosexuals (or anyone else),” but she does say think that people who do think that “should be met with mercy, not hate.” Shocked also hopes that “what remains of [her] audience will meet intolerance with understanding,” going on to say that while she doesn't believe her own, often gossiped-about sexuality is an issue, she loves both her husband and the LGBT community. And she adds that, if she could do things over, she “would make a clearer distinction between a set of beliefs I abhor, and my human sympathy for the folks who hold them.” So, basically: Sorry if you thought you heard anti-gay slurs when she said those anti-gay slurs, but if you did, you misinterpreted them. Or something?
Shocked also denies the whole thing was a publicity stunt, nor was it an elaborate ruse she orchestrated to remind people she does, in fact, still exist.
UPDATE: As if things weren't already confusing enough, now you can listen to the audio of Shocked's entire, rambling speech, thanks to the San Francisco Bay Guardian.