Lurid Sabrina Carpenter church video lands priest in hot water [View all]

Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello says he did not realise how provocative the song Feather would be

https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/sabrina-carpenter-church-video-priest-fired-scqjfqh2l

https://archive.ph/GdGno


The video features Sabrina Carpenter being leered at by men, all of whom meet a grisly end

The faithful at the Brooklyn parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Annunciation have seen a scantily clad Sabrina Carpenter cavorting around the altar of one of their churches in a music video. They have seen their priest demoted and then subpoenaed by federal investigators looking into his financial dealings with a well-connected New York lawyer. Now they have been informed, in a lengthy, grave statement from the Bishop of Brooklyn, Robert Brennan, that this same priest invested $1.9 million of church funds without following the proper protocols. The parishioners are outraged. But not with the priest — they are outraged with the bishop.



“It’s a bunch of malarkey,” said Richard Grande, 66, standing at the door of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, after a morning mass on Wednesday. “We’ve known the monsignor a long time. He’s one of the most honest, kind men you can get. All he wants is to do good for folks and he’s being targeted.” The priest is Jamie Gigantiello, a man in his early sixties who was ordained in 1995. Before that he was a chef, working at the InterContinental Hotel and at the Carlyle, where he cooked for the actors James Cagney and Paul Newman.

Sabrina Carpenter: Short n’ Sweet review — smart pop underneath the froth

In the priesthood he remained known for his pasta primavera and for his video addresses to the faithful from his kitchen, demonstrating how to make chicken soup and meatballs. Last year he launched a charitable cookbook called Breaking Bread. But he became known to a larger audience later that year after allowing Carpenter, a pop star and Gen Z favourite, to shoot a music video for her hit Feather at one of the parish’s churches, Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The video featured Carpenter at a funeral for all her former lovers, prancing through the pews towards the altar in a black tutu.


Jamie Gigantiello said he did not know how Carpenter’s video would look JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON/AP

Parishioners were stunned. Gigantiello said afterwards that he had given Carpenter permission to shoot the video in an effort to strengthen bonds between the church and the “young creative artists” in Brooklyn. But he did not know how the video would look — complete with a hot pink Cadillac hearse, coffins emblazoned with “RIP Bitch” and a neon crucifix hanging overhead. The problem, according to several parishioners, was that no one from the church was there to supervise it. “The person who would have been there had a golf outing that day,” said one woman, who did not want to give her name. “One person was covering both churches.”



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Carpenter is known for her suggestive performances. She wore a T-shirt saying “Jesus was a Carpenter” on stage at Coachella this year ARTURO HOLMES/GETTY IMAGES FOR COACHELLA