Recently, the singer appeared in a promotional ad for Hallow, a Catholic prayer and meditation app backed by JD Vance and billionaire Trump supporter Peter Thiel that has also featured anti-abortion messaging. In the ad, released on Dec. 1, Gwen promoted the app’s new Advent Challenge, encouraging viewers to join her in “praying every day this Advent and Christmas season.”
“It is important this holiday season to spend time in prayer,” she said. “That is what Christmas is all about, letting God into our hearts and letting Jesus bring us his peace.”
While the post received some likes, it was largely met with backlash and disappointment from fans. One person commented, “This is very disappointing, Gwen. Lots of your fans are from the LGBTQ+ community and this feels like a deep betrayal.” Another wrote, “Wtf happened to you,” as one more asked, “Remember when Gwen was cool?”
Content creator and activist Matt Bernstein also shared a video calling out Gwen, writing in the caption, “this IS bananas. b-a-n-a-n-a-s.” Celebrities joined in in the comments, including Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause. Referencing Gwen’s 1995 song “Don’t Speak,” she wrote, “Gwen-DON’T SPEAK. Please take your own advice on this one.”
Huda Beauty founder Huda Kattan also commented on Matt’s video and said, “Thank you for sharing this!!”
BuzzFeed can also confirm the post calling out Gwen by Matt was liked by Olivia Cooke, Julia Fox, Melanie Lynskey, Busy Philipps, Ava Phillippe, and Jonathan Van Ness.
Gwen hasn’t publicly responded to the criticism, but BuzzFeed has contacted her reps for comment. Meanwhile, Hallow CEO and co-founder Alex Jones previously defended the company’s anti-abortion stance in a statement in 2023, saying, “I’d want to start by saying that Hallow stands proudly and unequivocally in support of all Catholic Church teaching, especially the pro-life stance of the Church and the USCCB’s affirmation of the end of abortion as the preeminent priority.”
In the meantime, let me know what you think of all of this below.