A Catholic priest was relieved of his duties for granting singer Sabrina Carpenter permission to shoot a music video at his Brooklyn church.
The Diocese of Brooklyn removed Monsignor Jamie J. Gigantiello from his post at Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish following backlash for Carpenter’s “Feather” music video, which came out on Oct. 31. The Catholic News Agency was the first to report his ouster.
The gory yet girly “Feather” video is bookended by funeral-inspired scenes filmed at the Williamsburg house of worship.
In the video, cameras follow Carpenter as she leads men into traffic, stirs up a bloody gym brawl and traps someone in an elevator to their apparent death.
Afterwards, Carpenter dons a short black tulle dress and lace veil as she skips up and down the center aisle, and dances in front of the pastel-adorned altar surrounded by softly-colored coffins.
It ends with Carpenter, a former Disney Channel star, driving away from the church in a hot pink hearse.
Prompted by outrage from congregants and clergy, the Diocese of Brooklyn said it was “appalled” by the video in a statement to the Catholic News Agency earlier this month.
The statement said Msgr. Gigantiello disregarded “policy regarding the filming on Church property, which includes a review of the scenes and script.”
Days later he was relieved of administrative oversight of the parish.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish held a Mass of Reparation on Nov. 4.
John Quaglione, a press secretary for the diocese, told The New York Times the service was attended by about 50 people, who appeared “visibly upset by what had been filmed inside their church.”
Following the mass, the diocese said Bishop Robert J. Brennan had “restored the sanctity of this church and repaired the harm” done when Carpenter “desecrated” the parish.
Gigantiello apologized to parishioners in a statement on the church’s Facebook page, where he said he approved the project in “effort to further strengthen the bonds between the young creative artists who make up a large part of this community.”
In an email to the Times, Gigantiello said he was aware the video included a funeral scene, but he was not present for filming and the final edit was “not what was initially presented to me.”
“I am genuinely sorry and I deeply regret the incident that took place and any distress that my actions may have caused,” he wrote.
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