Ghost played in Midland, TX at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center and Pastor Larry Long was none too pleased about it. Long appeared on the The Morning Show With Craig Anderson on the radio station KWEL saying "I’m concerned about the content of the band," and while he said he respected the band's freedom of religion, he added "I’m in favor is finding out from Wagner Noël what in the world they’re thinking." At one point he really showed his cards saying "I’m sure the band believes the devil’s real; I doubt that they’re just doing this as a part of their shtick."
Ghost frontman Tobias Forge tells Loudwire Long is "obviously poorly informed" about the band being a "devil-worshipping band" and that none of their image should be taken literally. It's worth noting that Long says his fear of Ghost stems from his being "a biblical Christian" and believing the devil is real.
"I mean, they're right [about Ghost being Satanic]. [Chuckles] I think that a lot of these people – I obviously have never met these people; I've spent very little time, I've read basically the same news piece that everybody else read – and this guy [likely referring to Midland pastor Larry Long] is obviously poorly informed about what we're doing.
"But on the other hand, it's like – if he is an actual Bible-thumping true believer over a certain word, then it's it's like talking to someone who has some sort of malfunction, I guess. Because if they don't understand that what we're trying to do is to make these, however many people that were at that show – say a thousand people – we're trying to make them happy. We're trying to make them happy about life.
"We're actually quite humanistic, BUT if you take all these things that we're saying and what we're doing completely literally and believe that this is equal to damnation, then there's no way that we can meet intellectually. On one hand, as a human, I can I can grieve for tendencies like that. Because I think it reflects on something more somber and limited and regressive. On the other hand, an obstinate a little hard-rocker shit, I'm also like [chuckles devilishly]. But yeah, I'm always sort-of holding that little shit in the hand as well."
Ghost performed on November 19 and did not summon the Devil, because we are already in hell.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JORuEq5ejSA][/youtube]
