If you had “R&B legend Eric Benét becoming one of the internet’s sharpest, most unfiltered political commentators” on your bingo card, it might be time to buy a lottery ticket.
The Grammy-nominated singer, best known for smooth 90s and 2000s love ballads like Spend My Life With You, has recently pivoted from crooning about heartbreak to calling out systemic corruption. And honestly? He is delivering the exact kind of raw, cut-through-the-noise political commentary that people are currently craving.
His latest target? The sudden release of classified UFO and alien documents, which he argues is nothing more than a blatant, manufactured distraction.
Whenever the government starts declassifying documents about unidentified flying objects, the internet usually spirals into a conspiracy frenzy. But Benét isn’t buying the hype. In a recent viral video, he hilariously and bluntly called out the timing of these alien news dumps.
“Now these merfers are trying to distract us by releasing classified alien and UFO documents,” Benét stated in the clip. “Don’t nobody give a f*ck. You the monster, motherfu**ers. You trying to distract us when you the monster.”
For Benét, the extraterrestrial threat is a joke compared to the very real threats right here on Earth. He joked that even if the government rolled out a press conference featuring “Yoda, Spock, or Alf,” his reaction would simply be, “Cool story, bro. Now where the rest of them f*cking files at?”
Instead of worrying about little green men, Benét wants the public to focus on exposing the real “monsters” hiding behind closed doors and redacted documents. “I’ll go smoke a joint with E.T. Scared of your b*tch ass.”
In another clip, he drew a parallel between the way society fears the unknown (aliens) and the way political structures scapegoat marginalized communities to maintain control.
“Aliens ain’t done a damn thing to me or anybody I know. They just do alien sh*t, minding their own business,” he argued. He then connected this to the real world, pointing out how undocumented immigrants, the people of Gaza, and Iranians are constantly framed as threats while simply trying to exist and “mind their own business.”
According to Benét, the public is constantly being told to look over here and be outraged by these groups, so we don’t look over there at the people in power who are actively “robbing the treasury” and committing unspeakable crimes against humanity.
It is a jarring pivot from the man who gave us Georgy Porgy,” but his unapologetic delivery is resonating across social media.
Benét’s “smoke a joint with E.T.” realism is a breath of fresh air. He is saying exactly what a lot of people are thinking.
