Sopranos and White Lotus actor Michael Imperioli finds himself in the tenuous position of having to clarify his comments after speaking out against a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Last month, the Supreme Court decided in favor of a web designer who said she didn’t want to create websites for same-sex marriages. The ruling is a blow to LGBTQ+ rights and seemingly allows businesses to discriminate based on sexual orientation.
In response, Imperioli took to Instagram to sardonically thank the high court for allowing him to “discriminate” against “bigots and homophobes,” thus giving him some legal standing to ban those individuals from watching any projects starring the actor. This was obviously said in jest, since it’s physically impossible for Imperioli to prevent MAGA fans from gleefully watching him sneak prostitutes into his hotel room on White Lotus, just like Daddy Trump allegedly did.
However, some people didn’t get the point, forcing Imperioli to clarify something that should have merely elicited smirks among like-minded individuals and eye-rolls from conservatives, before everyone simply went about their day. So it’s back to Instagram for the Christopher Moltisanti of yore, as he spells out for the cheap seats what he really meant:
Imperioli explained that his original comments were “a satirical and symbolic take on where blatantly discriminatory Supreme Court decisions are taking us as a nation.” He notes that although he believes in “religious freedom, freedom of speech, and the right for individuals to pursue happiness,” he’s not a fan of denying people said freedoms based on their sexual orientation.
He adds, “And I vehemently oppose hate, prejudice, and bigotry, and always have. Some people have not gotten the irony I was expressing, so I thought I’d be more explicit.”
His comments are spot-on in suggesting the rights that the web designer is fighting so desperately to keep are the very ones being stepped on for LGBTQ+ people by this asinine ruling.
We have an idea: Don’t be in the wedding business if you think only certain people should be allowed to get married. Surely your life would have less consternation if you chose a career where you don’t risk running into something that is against your values and pretty common.
This issue wouldn’t even need to involve the courts if people, firstly, respected other couples’ happiness unconditionally; and secondly, respected their own happiness enough to not participate in a business where they know they can’t serve everyone and must ask a slew of courtrooms for permission to opt-out.
We hope a bevy of queer folks crash every single wedding that web designer makes a cake for. Bigotry goes down smoother with some buttercream frosting.