After the popularity of the 2022 Jeffrey Dahmer series on Netflix starring Evan Peters, people are calling a few famous pop songs' lyrics into question.
Apparently, much of Gen Z was unaware of who Jeffrey Dahmer was, and now that they know, songs like Kesha's "Cannibal" are becoming controversial.
"Cannibal" came out in 2010 and features the lyric, "Yeah, I'll pull a Jeffrey Dahmer."
In a recent performance for Hulu's Huluween Dragstravaganza, the mic even cut out when Kesha sang that line.
Previously, in 2020, "Cannibal" was a popular TikTok song that had its own viral dance.
Now, though, Kesha's mom Pebe Sebert has made a TikTok video explaining the debated lyric.
She called it "a big controversy right now" and said that she actually wrote that line of the song.
"At the time, Kesha and the other writer were too young to even know who Jeffrey Dahmer was," Sebert said.
She went on to explain how she had a rhyming program for songwriters and was looking for a rhyme for "goner."
"Not to be insensitive to anybody whose families were involved in this and lost loved ones," Sebert continued. "At the time, it was a song that we were writing about Kesha."
She explained, "Kesha was not the most popular girl in high school. Later on when she got famous, all these guys that never paid any attention to her were coming around."
"It was a tongue-in-cheek funny song. It was not actually about cannibalism," she said.
She also apologized to anyone who lost someone due to Dahmer's horrific crimes and said they "certainly never meant" to cause hurt or "make anybody feel bad."
"The song's been out for more than 10 years," she pointed out. "Jeffrey Dahmer was just part of the culture back then. Everybody talked about him for many years."
Commenters were quick to defend Kesha and the song.
"Not y’all making Kesha’s mom apologize!" one person exclaimed.
Another wrote, "That line was genius!!! don’t let them cancel you guys!" and someone else questioned why the line is just now being called controversial, saying, "I’m just surprised it took people 12 years to figure out this reference???"
Meanwhile, a few other artists have been called out for making Jeffrey Dahmer references in their 2010s-era music.
In Katy Perry's 2013 song "Dark Horse," rapper Juicy J said, "She's a beast, I call her karma. She'll eat your heart out like Jeffrey Dahmer."
Eminem is also included in the conversation for lyrics on "Brainless," "Must Be The Ganja," and "Bagpipes From Bagdad."
Watch Pebe Sebert's full explanation video, below: