America’s absurd reaction to Katy Perry headlining AFL Grand Final

Katy Perry’s comeback has been a bumpy ride so far – but the backlash she’s received for her latest high-profile booking seems a little unfair.

It’s no secret Katy Perry’s pop comeback has been a bumpy ride so far, but the social media backlash she’s received for her latest high-profile booking seems a little unfair.

It was finally officially announced this week that Perry, who’s on the comeback trail with divisive new singleWoman’s World, will be the headline performer at this year’s AFL Grand Final in September.

Any Aussie, AFL fan or not, knows that’s a good gig, but for those in other parts of the world, the announcement has been met with a hilarious mix of confusion and derision.

“Katy Perry to headline the Telstra Pre-Game Entertainment at the 2024 Toyota AFL Grand Final on September 28th,” the pop culture news account Pop Crave tweeted yesterday, leading to some wild responses from those outside Australia who’d never heard of the event before.

“Gaga = Olympics, Katy = unknown made-up event,” one person insisted, comparing Perry’s booking to that of Lady Gaga, who’s expected to perform at tomorrow’s Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Katy Perry at the grand Final.

Clearly a made-up event.

“The what?” more than one person asked – many, in fact.

“What obscure sportsball event is this?”

“I googled the event and STILL think they made it up. How’s that possible?”

“This is a step away from opening car dealerships,” another declared.

On and on they went, roasting Katy in the quote tweets:

“I don’t think anyone’s heard of this.”

“I..... this ain’t the superbowl is it.”

“There have been bigger falls from the top but I think this is one of the most embarrassing.”

“Y’all used chatgpt to make up an event title huh.”

Another even declared Perry’s Grand Final booking as evidence that her “career is over.”

Trust us, America, this is a good gig. Picture: AFL

It’s true Perry’s musical comeback so far has not gone entirely to plan – both the song and video for Woman’s World have been slammed on social media, and it’s missed the top 40 in the US, UK and here in Australia.

But headlining the AFL Grand Final could give Perry a chart boost: The event has regularly been the most-watched TV program of the year, last year pulling a viewership of 2.465 million people. Recent musical headliners include rock legends KISS, UK pop star Robbie Williams and The Killers.

Not bad for an “unknown made-up event.”

This isn’t the first time in recent months that people overseas – especially in the US – have expressed bewilderment over an Australian stadium event. Taylor Swift’s Eras tour visit to Melbourne earlier this year, playing in the same venue Katy will perform at – the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Aerial footage of the MCG – capacity 96,000 – and surrounds that circulated on social media was met with one question from many Yanks: Where does everyone park?

Many of Swift’s US followers simply couldn’t wrap their heads around the sight of a stadium ringed by parklands and a train station, rather than endless parking lots.