The Ice Spice controversy, explained

The results are in, and it turns out this year’s Super Bowl experienced viewership so high that only the moon landing back in 1969 can touch equal numbers. Part of the skyrocketed viewership is undoubtedly due to pop superstar Taylor Swift attending the game to support boyfriend Travis Kelce, although it now appears that all eyes weren’t only fixated on Swift during the sporting event — with rapper Ice Spice being a target of attention and controversy.

During the biggest NFL game of the year this past Sunday, Ice Spice joined Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, and others in a private viewing box as all parties enjoyed the matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers together. And considering the collaboration between Swift and Spice on the single “Karma” last year, it hardly comes as a surprise that the duo have remained friends and decided to enjoy the big game together.

With all that being said, Spice attending Super Bowl LVIII quickly became a controversial affair which eventually resulted in the 24-year-old artist rapidly trending over the last few days — but why?

What is the Ice Spice Super Bowl controversy?

During the Super Bowl, Ice Spice was shown several times on camera, with a variety of folks online insisting that Spice was making “Satanic” symbols and behaving in an “odd way.” Spice was mainly blasted for wearing an all-black attire and wearing “demonic” clothing and jewelry — which apparently included an upside-down cross necklace. Without a second glance, Spice’s jewelry and attire immediately came under fire, and clearly didn’t sit right with a plethora of eagle-eyed viewers:

Aside from simply just joining Swift at the Super Bowl, the Bronx native also appeared in an eye-popping commercial for Starry during the event, which is the latest soda venture from PepsiCo, with the ad featuring Spice taking a sip of the drink and admiring its fresh flavor.

While a large portion of netizens have continued to push forward Spice’s “Satanic” behavior, others have come to her defense to question the out-of-the-box and “baseless” thinking happening surrounding her name online. What are devil signs, anyway? Have we finally lost our collective minds? Spice herself has yet to publicly respond to these claims, but one can only imagine that she’s likely dodging these accusations out of pure disbelief about how silly these “demonic” incriminations truly are.