“The anger and dismay gave me the idea to parody a parody.”
Last month, 16-year-old Rebecca Anderson decided to create this video in response to the Westboro Baptist Church’s homophobic parody of a Panic! At the Disco song.
The video of her performing her song, “Your Beliefs Are a Lie What a Tragedy”, has now been watched over 20,000 times. The full lyrics can be found here.
Speaking to BuzzFeed about its success, Anderson said: “I wanted to create the video when I heard WBC's parody of Panic! At the Disco. The original was one of my favourite songs by P!ATD, and I was extremely annoyed to hear them crush it with homophobic lyrics."
“The anger and dismay just gave me the idea to parody a parody."
"To be honest at first it was just a little joke, but I imagined the impact it could have, and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to tell the world how terrible they are in the hope of making people more aware of homophobia.”
youtube.com / Via Rebecca Anderson
The teenager, from Edinburgh, said the reaction to her video had been fantastic, and she is very happy at the way the video is being shared.
“It's great to know that this is going round and people are learning about the ridiculous views of WBC in a comedic sense,” she added.
The church has also heard of her video, and people claiming to be members have started engaging Anderson on YouTube.
youtube.com / Via Rebecca Anderson
“They were being rude and some left graphic homophobic insults," she said, "but I wasn't brought down by this as the only person who should be ashamed in this situation is them."
The commenters told Anderson she was helping spread their message, but she countered that pretty much no one who viewed her video “felt the miraculous need to follow their church's views”.
youtube.com / Via Rebecca Anderson