The frontman of Christian rock band Skillet has faced a backlash after comparing Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion‘s Grammys performance of ‘WAP’ to the speeches of Adolf Hitler.

It comes after Cardi and Megan’s live appearance at this month’s Grammy ceremony received dozens of complaints to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with many criticising the pair’s choreographed routine as pornographic.

Speaking during a recent edition of his Cooper Stuff podcast, Skillet frontman John Cooper – an outspoken conservative and Donald Trump supporter – labelled the ‘WAP’ airing “pretty weird” before explaining why he believed the performance was hypocritical.

“We’re living in a world right now where there are certain Dr. Seuss books that you cannot sell on eBay. They are just too much for anybody to even be allowed to buy – it’s too evil,” he said.

“But, you can and must applaud the sexual degradation of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion simulating sex together on the Grammys.

“This is the perfect example. You must celebrate [it] – in fact, if you don’t celebrate it, you’re actually a bad person… and you kinda don’t love people.”

Cooper continued: “The question is, who is going to define what is good, and who is gonna define what is evil? Every dictator in history says that what they were doing was good. That’s what they believe.

He went on to cite a biblical verse from the book of Isaiah (“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil”) before making a comparison to the propaganda speeches by Nazi dictator Hitler.

“If you go back and you read some of Hitler’s speeches, he’s like, ‘I’m gonna set people free – free from the bondage of the Ten Commandments’,” Cooper said. “In his mind, he’s a liberator. It’s always like that, you guys. All you do is you just redefine evil and you redefine good. That’s what’s happening right now on the Grammys.”

H*tler went into detail about this in Mein WÄP. https://t.co/yjZLEjRIeq

— Wearthony Masktano (@theneedledrop) March 19, 2021

No, really. HItler had a whole team for policing and destroying “degenerate art” so my man Skillet is off base here.

— Dr. Jacqueline Antonovich (@jackiantonovich) March 19, 2021

not familiar with hitler’s wap moment https://t.co/aq6M909tGP

— ChemTylers Over the Country Huck (@TylerHuckabee) March 19, 2021

Because a song about your vagina is the same thing as being a dictator who’s killed billions

Fucking hell, and I like Skillet too ?‍♀️ https://t.co/SGDTOl8xOX

— ?? TREE ?? (@SecretAgentTree) March 19, 2021

Skillet were my comfort band when I was young why has John decided to liken Cardi B to actual Hitler omg

— han (@hannahrosebarkr) March 19, 2021

The dude from skillet really called cardi b hitler. Brooooooooooo

— sceneior citizen (@upleftdown) March 19, 2021

After receiving a raft of criticism on social media (see a selection of tweets above), Cooper claimed in a follow-up video that his comments had been “misrepresented” and “taken out of context from their intent”.

“I did not compare Cardi B to Hitler,” he said, “and I did not compare her performance to Hitler or any other dictator. And I certainly didn’t compare the Grammys or the music industry to any dictator.”

Cooper added: “I would in no way conflate [the performance] to the horrors of the genocide that we saw in 1940”. You can watch that video here in full.

Conservative figures such as Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens have previously criticised ‘WAP’ due to its explicit content, with Megan The Stallion saying she was “really taken back” by the reaction.

“Like, why is this your focus right now? If you have an issue with what I’m saying don’t listen to it,” she said. “Tune out, ’cause I didn’t ask you to tune in.”

Last December, Megan said that the controversy came from a place of “fear and insecurity”: “Some people just don’t know what to do when a woman is in control and taking ownership of her own body.”