After Quakertown’s Sabrina Carpenter filmed her Feather music video inside a Brooklyn church, the priest who approved it got stripped of his duties, writes Emily Bloch for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello was relieved of “any pastoral oversight or governance role” at the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Williamsburg following an investigation, said the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.
The issues began last year when the video was first released. Church leaders, shocked by its “violent and sexually provocative nature,” promptly stripped Gigantiello of some of his duties, such as fundraising, for approving filming.
In September, church leadership’s scrutiny of how the video was approved led them to a string of “business dealings” between the priest and New York Mayor Eric Adams’ former chief of staff Frank Carone.
Federal investigators subpoenaed information on all the financial transactions, but in the end, neither man was charged with criminal wrongdoing.
However, an internal church investigation revealed multiple instances of Gigantiello misusing his privileges and violating church policies, including charging “substantial” personal expenses to the church credit card, which ultimately lead to his demotion.
Read more about the Sabrina Carpenter Feather music video and its impact on a Brooklyn priest in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
