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Lorde is getting heat for watching the infamous Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape.
And to be honest? The criticism is not unreasonable.
Amidst discussion of gender and her friendship with Chappell Roan, Lorde’s recent in-depth interview also touched upon the ’90s most infamous celebrity sex tape.
Sexuality is a beautiful thing, when private or when shared. But Lorde is getting some backlash, and it’s not unreasonable.
What did Lorde say?
28-year-old Lorde did an interview with Rolling Stone in which she teased her new album, Virgin, and delved into an array of topics.
In the past, she has at times come across as somewhat judgmental about sexuality. Years ago, for example, she condemned a Selena Gomez bop because she believed that it sent a harmful message.
(She was wrong, but whatever — everybody makes mistakes, we guess)
For whatever reason, Lorde decided to open up about watching Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s video after a psychedelic therapy session.
“I found it to be so beautiful,” Lorde inexplicably confessed. “And maybe it’s f–ked up that I watched it, but I saw two people that were so in love with each other, and there was this purity.”
She described: “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.’”
Sometimes, celebrities share things in interviews that they could have, for free, simply never said aloud.
This revelation is not getting a warm reception for two solid reasons.
Why is that bad?
First and foremost, talking about the former couple being “so in love with each other” and having a “purity” needs a really important disclaimer.
In 1998, Tommy Lee allegedly attacked Pamela Anderson while she was holding their younger son, Dylan Jagger Lee, who was an infant at the time.
Lee would later plead no contest to felony spousal abuse. He spent six months in jail as a result.
(Notably, older son Brandon Thomas Lee allegedly punched out his father several years ago. Not all consequences are legal!)
The other issue on people’s minds was the sex tape itself. Because some celebrities have absolutely shared their own nudes or even sexual videos on purpose.
Some have filmed their hookups intending to share them.
That is not what happened here. In 1995, the first year of Anderson and Lee’s marriage, an electrician named Rand Gauthier worked on the erstwhile couple’s house.
After Lee allegedly refused to pay him, he in turn reportedly stole a sizable safe from their garage.
Later, within the safe, he discovered the sex tape. Later, Seth Warshavsky streamed the tape online before setting up a distribution plan with Lee and Anderson.
Though they did sign an agreement, this only led to the video becoming more widespread — not, as Anderson apparently hoped, to limiting how many people saw it.
The leaking and subsequent distribution of that tape has had a lasting, negative impact on Pamela Anderson
For Pamela Anderson, the issue wasn’t that she and Tommy Lee didn’t receive any of the millions that sale of the tape reportedly made. (Per the agreement, a court found that they were owed a substantial sum)
Instead, she felt great pain and anguish over this massive invasion into her privacy. The other painful moments of her marriage and the violence that brought it to an end obviously do not help.
Perhaps Lorde does not know this. While this tape is, on paper, distributed with the (after the fact) consent of its stars, of course this anecdote is upsetting to people.
If you see a celebrity nude or watch a sex tape or whatever … you don’t actually have to tell people. Especially if you’re not one-hundred-percent certain that it was released, not leaked. Saying nothing is free!