It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the band Panic! At The Disco, which has released hits in the past like “Death of a Bachelor,” “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” “Nine In The Afternoon,” “The Ballad Of Mona Lisa,” and “Emperor’s New Clothes.” If you were unaware, P!ATD’s new album drops on June 22, and if the pre-released songs “Say Amen (Saturday Night)” and “(F*** A) Silver Lining” are any indicator, it’s going to be awesome. I’ve already listened to both songs at least 30 times each, and I have no shame about that. The band originally had four members, but over the years, its numbers have decreased, and it’s now just front-man Brendon Urie (although “just” isn’t quite the right word, since he’s amazing even without other band members). Despite being the only member of the band, Urie still releases music under the P!ATD name, playing all of the instruments himself, although he recruits others when he tours.
Urie has been an activist for LGBTQ+ rights for quite a while, having previously feuded with the notoriously homophobic Westboro Baptist Church which declared its plans to picket a P!ATD show. Urie pledged to donate $20 to the Human Rights Campaign, a charity that supports LGBTQ+ folks, for every person picketing the show, and although only 13 church members showed, Urie donated $1000 ($840 more than what he would have donated had he only donated $20 per protester) to HRC with an additional 5% of that show’s merchandise sales going to HRC as well.
With that in mind, what happened on April 23rd comes as very little surprise. Two days earlier, Dana Schwartz, an Entertainment Weekly correspondent and author, tweeted, “stop pretending like it’s at ALL hard to use to “they/them” pronouns when we’ve all agreed to call Brendon Urie “Panic! at the Disco” even though we know it’s just him,” a tweet that both calls out Urie for going by P!ATD and people who think it’s too difficult to use they/them pronouns. This tweet is golden in and of itself; if people can manage to call Urie Panic! at the Disco when he’s the only one in the band, then surely it’s not too difficult to respect someone else’s pronouns. The logic is clear and presented in a humorous way, so it’s already great. What makes the story even better, though, is Urie’s response. Urie retweeted Schwartz’s post and added, “This tweet is Panic! At The Disco approved,” and included several clapping emojis. Not only can the man take a joke, but he also agrees that using they/them pronouns isn’t actually difficult. What a gem.