Who'd have thought that Addison Rae, perpetual ray of sunshine that she is, would ever offend conservative Christian morals? Well, the impossible has happened: the unlikely threesome of Rae, adidas, and Praying have become the center of a biblical firestorm.
What all happened with Addison Rae, adidas, Praying, and Christianity? Let's start from the top.
On August 3, Rae uploaded an image to her Instagram page promoting Praying's forthcoming adidas collaboration. In the photo, Rae wore Praying's signature "Holy Trinity" bikini, which is exactly what it sounds like: "Father," "Son," and "Holy Spirit" printed across the bikini's top and bottom.
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Makes me wonder who's the father, son, and holy spirit in the union of Addison Rae, adidas, and Praying, but that's neither here nor there.
The photo was ostensibly a quick promo for Praying's adidas Supernova Cushion 7 sneaker collab but spiraled into so much more.
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Almost immediately, Christian commenters began pantomiming the overexaggerated indignation typical of majority groups provoked by a mere piece of clothing — cough, Satan Shoe, cough.
The comment section of Rae's post immediately erupted with furious outrage.
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Rae deleted the adidas and Praying imagery from her Instagram page but, rather than turn the other cheek, folks kept the biblical bile spewing onto other posts.
Especially on Praying's Instagram page, where the indie brand continues to promotes its ironic graphic T-shirts and bags, people came out to moan en masse.
"This is so wrong," some said. "It’s definitely giving blasphemy," and, on another post spotlighting the Holy Trinity bikini, "This is WAY out of line, and extremely disrespectful!"
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The vitriol has spilled over to even adidas' Instagram page, where comments range from "never wearing yall again" and "No wonder Kanye wanted to leave adidas" — there are probably other reasons but yeah sure — to inarticulate all-caps screeching.
"THATS WHY YALL ON YALL DOWNFALL NOW WHOEVER CAME UP WITH IDEA NEEDA GET FIRED ASAP CAUSE THEY DEFINITELY JUST PUT THE COMPANY IN BANKRUPT," someone screamed, assuming that Addison Rae's Praying x adidas ad would singlehandedly tank a multi-billion-dollar business.
Highsnobiety has reached out to adidas for comment.
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Rae, meanwhile, escaped much of the inflated Instagram aggression but her TikTok page was rife with grousing.
There, folks offered insightful tidbits like "Jesus is king," "Just sad bro," and "we was all rooting for you, how dare you," as if Rae hadn't merely worn a bikini but actually announced her new role as a high priest of Satanism.
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The weight of the backlash appears to be impacting Rae IRL, who was snapped by paparazzi on her way from daily pilates a day after the controversy.
The TikTok star, normally beaming in sunny workout gear, instead wore a dark outfit with matching Balenciaga hat pulled down low.
Even a week after the controversy, Rae still hasn't posted anything on either her Instagram or TikTok accounts.
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The funny thing is that all this moral panic is really just boosting the visibility of all those involved.
With drama, especially moral panic, comes more attention and with more visibility usually comes more money. Hey, it didn't hurt Travis Scott.
Like, I'm not sure if the Holy Trinity bikini was placed on the front page of Praying's website prior to the drama or if the brand rearranged the set in an enterprising move to capitalize on the drama but it's pretty good timing either way.
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Praying kept trolls seething on August 4 with a cheeky Bible quote of its own. It also continued uploading Instagram Stories of folks wearing the Holy Trinity bikini throughout the day.
The comment section was as dire as you'd expect. Some folks maintained a sense of humor, though, including Praying pal Josh Madden, of Good Charlotte fame.
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Later, Praying again prodded the pearl-clutchers by uploading another image of the Holy Trinity bikini captioned with a line from The Smiths' "Bigmouth Strikes Again": "Now I know how Joan of Arc felt."
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While Praying may be up to the task of facing the furor head on, controversy is rare for sunny Addison Rae, whose entire brand is built upon her god-given charm.
Still, she has some experience facing firestorms, she weathered them head-on and came out on the other end mostly unscathed.
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“One thing about me that surprises people is that I am just as happy as I am in the pictures,” she recently told Highsnobiety.
“I try to always be positive, and people think that's not real. No matter what situation I've been in my entire life, good or bad, I've always [known] that things pass and get better.”
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The same approach is likely applicable here.
Just like every moral affront that takes over social media, this too shall pass. Rae, adidas, and Praying will eventually be just fine. These generalized harassment campaigns always run out of steam as the proponents find something else to whinge about.
Really, the part that surprises me most is the sheer volume of complaints that flooded the internet. Not to get into a theological debate or anything, but it's strange.
The people acting as if they're personally being persecuted for maintaining their Christian identities, especially (note that Rae hasn't publicly commented much on religion but various celebrity statistic websites report that her family is Christian).
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About 63% of Americans identify as Christian according to a 2020 poll, which is a lot people. In fact, it's not unfair to say that Christianity is, generally, the dominant religion in America and still informs much of this country's legislation.
Yet, there are still people complaining that it was unfair for Rae to "target" Christians, as if this
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was some kind of specific attack upon an oft-maligned or minority religious belief.
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The commodification of Christian imagery isn't inherently blasphemous, so it can't just be that they're mad about seeing the Holy Trinity bikini itself, right?
Or, at least, these people should be equally mad about Praying's printed swimsuit, Kanye's merch, and Justin Bieber's "Holy" T-shirt.
Instead, it's presumably the context of Praying's Holy Trinity bikini that has folks triggered. Is it that a few familiar words are printed atop the parts of a woman's body that society simultaneously objectifies and shames?
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But not many folks really get upset over people wearing ironic "Jesus Loves Me" T-shirts, do they.
This, in particular, feels less like a case of true sacrilege and more like social media-obsessed individuals seizing an opportunity to feign hurt for a taste of delicious righteous indignation.
Perhaps people should ask themselves, WWJD? Would the big man really be cool with a bunch of randos going after a 21-year-old through hateful Instagram and TikTok comments?
