Lorde is facing backlash for admitting that she watched Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee Jones’ sex tape.
In a revealing new Rolling Stone cover story published Thursday, the Grammy-winning artist opened up about the ways she has coped with emotional struggles, including an eating disorder and a painful breakup.
But one surprising admission from the New Zealand singer-songwriter has stirred widespread criticism online: she watched Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s infamous sex tape and found it ‘beautiful’, despite Anderson’s feelings about the release of the tape.
The tape, which was stolen and distributed without Anderson and Lee’s consent in the mid-1990s, has long been considered a traumatic event in the actress’s life.
Despite this, Lorde recounted viewing the video while under the influence of psychedelics, saying it left a lasting impression.
‘I found it so beautiful,’ she told the publication. ‘And maybe it’s f***ed up that I watched it, but I saw two people that were so in love with each other, and there was this purity. They were jumping off this big boat.… They were like children. They were so free. And I just was like, “Whoa. Being this free comes with danger.”‘
While Lorde framed her experience as part of a larger journey of healing and introspection – referencing it alongside themes in her April single What Was That, which includes the lyric ‘MDMA in the back garden, blow our pupils up’ – many fans and social media users saw the comments as deeply insensitive.
In a Netflix documentary about the incident, Anderson said the theft was ‘such an invasion, we were angry, hurt and upset,’ and she ‘knew at that point that [her] career was over.’
Critics pointed out that Anderson has spoken at length about how traumatic the leak was, and how violated she felt by its circulation and subsequent exploitation – including the dramatized Hulu series Pam & Tommy, which was created without her consent.
‘Pamela Anderson talked about how traumatic her relationship with Tommy was and how their tape has brought her a lot of pain but Lorde is out here talking about ‘oh it’s so beautiful’ f***ing weirdo,’ tweeted @nevaduhh.
‘Actually Lorde does deserve the lashings,’ added @honeymounz. ‘Pamela has spoken out so many times about how violated she felt and still feels about it but I guess that doesn’t matter because it’s beautiful to Lorde..? A pretentious joke.’
Others echoed the sentiment that the singer should have kept the story private. ‘Imagine having your most private moments stolen and published without consent,’ wrote @cutietoryxo. ‘Why would anyone give this cruelty more attention?’
The criticism centers on the issue of consent and the continued objectification of Anderson’s trauma.
Lorde, who has often positioned herself as a sensitive and introspective artist, is now being accused of romanticising a non-consensual violation for artistic reflection.
Whether Lorde will respond to the controversy remains to be seen, but the backlash highlights a larger conversation about the ethics of consuming content that was intended to be private – and the responsibility public figures have when revisiting those moments.
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