Parishioners at a Sri Lankan church got the ultimate Christmas surprise when they discovered that booklets for its carol service included obscene lyrics written by Tupac Shakur.
Andrew Choksy, who attended the “Joy to the World” service on Dec. 11, noticed the lyrics to “Hail Mary” belonged to the late rapper. The lyrics included the line: “revenge is like the sweetest joy, next to getting p***y.”
“A lot of people were in shock as whether it was a joke or someone would actually rap the song,” Choksy told CNN. “A few of the older ladies in front of us could not stop looking at the printed booklet.”
A Christmas Carol service in Sri Lanka has accidentally printed the lyrics of Tupac’s Hail Mary, instead of the prayer.#SriLanka #lka pic.twitter.com/djhJPAWhcj
— Ravindu Thimantha G. (@IamRavindu) December 25, 2016
While churchgoers expected to sing along to the traditional “Hail Mary full of grace, the lord is with thee,” they instead got Tupac’s version, which asks Mary, “Do you want to ride or die?”
When the church was notified about the printing mishap, they immediately asked for booklets back.
“The page was in the middle of the booklet. When people looked at this page, they saw it before the start of the show. Two people saw it and alerted us to it,” said Father Da Silva, of the archdiocese.
The priest said the printer had been a “young boy” who had simply downloaded the wrong version of the song.
“We are very sorry to say that this happened,” he said.