To Philly Jesus: #GirlBye

The famous-for-nothing local celebrity went on a social media rant over gay marriage, and it's time we cut him out of our selfies.

When I interviewed Philly Jesus last year, there was a part of me that felt kind of bad for him: Clearly, here was a guy who had some real problems in the past with drugs (he’ll openly admit that to you) who was trying as best as he could to turn his life around. I’m not sure what donning a white robe, growing his hair out, and walking around city posing as Jesus is doing for him, but, in his mind, he seemed to have thought that he was promoting something good. If he wasn’t hurting anyone, all the more power to him.

But my opinion on him has changed, pretty dramatically, after PJ (Philly Jesus) went on a social media rant over the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision. My colleague here at Philadelphia magazine, Victor Fiorillo, captured most of the inflammatory posts made by PJ on Instagram and Twitter in his piece “Philly Jesus Says Gays Are in Big, Big Trouble,” and even interviewed the street performer (because, let’s just call him what he is) about his stances on gay marriage. PJ’s responses were pretty clear: “The Supreme Court made a judgment on same sex marriage, and I just had to preach the truth of God…Marriage is between a man and a woman. Homosexuality demotes human production. It’s against God. Sin is sin.” He also posted this lovely little shot on his Instagram account:

Let’s get one thing straight about this, Philly Jesus: You’re dead wrong, and, as many of your Instagram followers suggested after you posted the vile image above, you’ve got a lot to learn about compassion and what it really means to love.

Also…um, why are we taking a street performer seriously?

Maybe it’s all of that long hair or that beard weighing down on PJ’s brain, or maybe he didn’t get enough tips from people in town for the LGBT 50th Anniversary celebration this weekend after he most likely tried to pose with them along Independence Mall, but this type of rhetoric from the fake child of God has just got to stop. And we can do something about it.

Stop following PJ on Twitter and Instagram. When you see a friend post a picture with PJ in it, kindly remind him or her what PJ’s saying about the LGBT community. And, for crying out loud, quit taking selfies with him, or taking pictures of him on the street. This is the kind of thing that clearly drives this guy’s ego: not the gospel, not spreading the “word,” but inflating his own sense of self.

In short, PJ’s about as equivalent to Paris Hilton or the Kardashians: They’ve all got no talent, no tact, and think they are stars because of what they post on social media. The only difference? Paris and Kim aren’t homophobic. Oh, and they have a ton of money. Philly Jesus has still got to work on that.