In a follow-up response to his original reaction video regarding Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's performance of the hit song "WAP" at the 2021 Grammy Awards, Skillet singer John Cooper clarified his comments connecting the redefining of good and evil in society, Adolf Hitler and the hyper sexual performance, which he said were "misrepresented."

In the first video, Cooper referenced the Bible verse, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil," and used this as the focal point of his objection to the explicit onstage act. Furthermore, he pointed to the erosion of the traditional concepts of good and evil in America in particular, as defined by Judeo-Christian values. He said this has been seen over the last five years and "especially during the last year."

This came after comments that suggested those who react negatively or in objection to the performance are "actually a bad person" and that there is an outside demand for this act of "sexual degradation" to be applauded and celebrated.

Cooper's comments immediately following the Bible quotation are as follows:

Why would anybody ever call evil good and good evil? It's simple: because they just redefine the terms. The question is, who is going to define what is good, and who is going to define what is evil? Every dictator in history says that what they were doing was good. That's what they believe. If you go back and you read some of Hitler's speeches, he's, like, 'I'm gonna set people free — free from the bondage of the Ten Commandments.' In his mind, he's a liberator. It's always like that, you guys. All you do is you just redefine evil and you redefine good. That's what's happening right now on the Grammys.

"Yesterday in my podcast, I reacted to Cardi B's performance at the Grammys. And it has come to my attention that some of my words were misrepresented and taken out of context from their intent," said the Skillet singer in his follow-up video (seen at the bottom of the page, transcription via Blabbermouth).

He further clarified, "So, please allow me to say this: I did not compare Cardi B to Hitler, and I did not compare her performance to Hitler or any other dictator, and I certainly didn't compare the Grammys or the music industry or any other artist, for any reason, to any dictator."

Cooper also wanted to ensure that his remarks were not misconstrued in such a way that they could be interpreted to "conflate the consequences or the gravity of Cardi B's performance at the Grammys" and that he "in no way would ever conflate that to the horrors of the genocide that we saw in 1940 or any of the other violence and murders and all the death and destruction of any dictator that we've had in history."

"I honestly don't understand how it could be taken that way, but just to be clear and clear of any confusion, I was stating that we are living in a time when it comes to morality where we are redefining what is good and what is evil," he added.

In support of the notion of redefining good as evil and vice versa, Cooper explained, "Sometimes we have a hard time imagining that someone would do something bad and redefine it and call it good. That's why I was pointing out that there have been many, many examples of dictators or horrific events over the last 100 years where people did really, really bad stuff, but they believed or claimed that they were doing it for good reasons, for moral reasons, for liberating reasons."

Elucidating his citation of how German dictator and Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler aimed to redefine the two concepts, the Skillet frontman went on, "And as an example of that, I was saying if you were to go back and read some of Hitler's speeches, you would find that he claims to believe that he was liberating people and doing something virtuous. This in no way compared Cardi B to Hitler or any dictatorship of any kind, and it certainly wasn't conflating all of the evil things that have happened to the consequences of Cardi B's performance, or any other performance for that matter."

"I was speaking philosophically in order to make a point," he said, "and then using an unequivocal example from the past where someone has traded evil but called it good."

At the conclusion of the follow-up, Cooper noted the controversial Grammys performance is a small scale example of a broader issue.

"This Grammy performance is a very small microcosm — it may seem trite; it may seem a little bit petty — it's just a microcosm to show something that is a lot bigger. I'm actually not trying to blow this up into a crisis," he urged and finished off by stating, "I'm actually saying we are in a crisis — but not because of the Grammys and not because of Cardi B and not because of a music performance or any other musician or artist or band. That's not why we are in a crisis. And what is the crisis? The crisis is this: we are redefining what is moral and what is immoral, what is virtuous and what is not virtuous, and it is going to have devastating consequences for America."

See both the follow-up response and the initial reaction videos below.

Skillet's John Cooper Clarifies Hitler Comments in Grammys/Cardi B 'WAP' Reaction Video

Skillet's John Cooper Reacts to Cardi B's "WAP" Grammy Performance

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