Katy Perry has responded to the backlash she got for boarding the heavily-mocked Blue Origin space mission, saying the internet treated her like a 'human Piñata'. The singer faced the lion's share of the negativity online, despite the fact five other women also chose to board the 11-minute flight to space.
The Woman's World singer admitted she felt 'battered and bruised' but reassured fans she okay and would 'keep looking to the light'. Among her critics was the fast-food chain Wendy's who tweeted 'can we send her back' to its more than three million followers on X.
During the flight, Perry sang Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World, held up a setlist for her upcoming tour to a camera inside the flight and a daisy. She was joined by author Lauren Sanchez, also the fiancee of Blue Origin owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, journalist, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, TV presenter Gayle King, former rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and filmmaker Kerianne Flynn.
Perry wrote on Instagram, '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.'
She went on to say she's 'not perfect' and is 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.'
She added: '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.'
Some of the accusations against her included that it was tone-deaf to participate in such an expensive mission while many were struggling to afford food in the US; others accused the trip of being pointless, and some hated her messaging around the trip.
Before the trip she said the crew were putting 'the ass into astronauts', telling Elle, 'Space is going to finally be glam. Let me tell you something. If I could take glam up with me, I would do that.'