CRASS, insensitive, self-promotional, tasteless and tawdry. (I could add more descriptive wordage but rant space is limited.) We’re talking about the Met Gala, (or Met Ball) the annual charity highlight of New York’s social calendar, which this year showcased the theme Catholic Influence in Fashion.

The galaxy of celebrities turned up in the weirdest, most “shocking” outfits since young Prince Harry wore Nazi fancy dress uniform, or Jack McConnell wore the girl kilt.

Rihanna turned up as the Pope – if El Papa were a mini-skirted, gold mitre-wearing jewellery-obsessed drag queen. Katy Perry’s giant angel wings took us back to Barbarella surrealism and Madonna, several times excommunicated, wore the all-black Greek Orthodox priest chic look.

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Where will the next outrageous Met Ball take us, we wonder? To Hell? Will the theme be African Slave? Or Muslim Obeyance, in which the ladies turn up in cleverly designed burkas which allow for cleavage? Or Hindu Caste, whereupon Kim Kardashian wears tastefully-torn Versace rags and a little bell around her neck?

Already there are calls for the Met Gala to close its door to this inglorious excess. We’ve had Piers Morgan shout from the rooftops (or Good Morning Britain, to give it its correct name). He said: “Explain to me why, as a Catholic, I shouldn’t be slightly perturbed that a load of celebrities have waltzed up in nativity play headgear and dressed like my Pope?”

One Twitter response to the gala read: “My culture is NOT your goddamn prom dress” – which has been retweeted more than 40,000 times. Meanwhile, Ingrid Irwin, Australian lawyer to victims of priest abuse, wrote: “These celebs might be wearing these things tongue-in-cheek, but to glorify the Catholic Church in this way is saying that’s okay.”

But these reactions are ridiculous. Morgan loves to play the righteous indignation card. And this event is not about glorification. It’s about dressing up and showing off. It’s about getting a picture across the media. It’s not condoning abuse.

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We’ve long had this argument that the (mis)use of Catholic iconography will result in extreme upset, as was the case in 1979 when Life of Brian made the headlines, or in 1977 when Dave Allen caused a Catholic quake with his Striptease Pontiff sketch. (It wasn’t funny but Allen didn’t deserve the subsequent attacks).

The Met Gala wasn’t funny or clever but neither was it blasphemous. No one is going to the Bad Fire because they adorned their conspicuous breasts with a bejewelled crucifix. No one will spend a deathtime in purgatory for wearing an altar on their head, as Sarah Jessica Parker did. And here’s the thing about Catholics; some of them actually have a sense of humour.

The Pope for example. Pope Francis, who has been known to wear a red nose, is a funny bloke who once told the story of a little boy in a first Communion class in his parish who asked him, “Do you know Jesus well through your work - or are you friends?” He’s a man who after his election turned to his cardinals and said deadpan, “May God forgive you for what you have done.”

There is an argument we can’t upset religious groups because this could lead to the Charlie Ebdo killings in Paris of 2015. But should we have to factor in fanaticism at every turn? And aren’t we getting carried away on waves of outrage? The Nazi dog story saw the Scottish legal system deem it illegal for a man to teach his partner’s pug to salute. Now, this bloke’s sense of humour is about as ugly as the dog, but that isn’t a reason to wreck his life with a criminal record.

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On Tuesday night, Peter Kay’s Car Share caused a minor furore because his character was seen to laugh at a transgender person. Now, this “joke” and indeed the whole half hour was as funny as incontinence but come on.

The Met Ball has long been about fashion idiocy. This year, you just knew there would be hints of sexy nuns, naked cherubs and rampant with virgins, vestal or otherwise. But it did no harm. And if you’re being generous the evening actually prompts discussion of the Catholic Church’s intriguing relationship with sex and sexuality, about restraint and sexual repression.

But was the gala night, which last year made £10m for charity, an attack on Catholicism? Not a chance. (Before the fundamentalist Catholic emails arrive, my alma mater is St Mirin’s Academy). And the Vatican not only gave its blessing to the theme, it provided a whole host of clothes and items for the accompanying exhibition.

So let’s stop being offended so easily. We shouldn’t be allowed to shut down bad taste. We each have a remote control over our own lives which allows us not to watch, or read what we don’t wish to see. That doesn’t mean we should have control over someone else’s switch.

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Let’s face it. The Catholic Church’s uniform is rife for send up. It’s big. It’s grand, it’s heavy on symbolism, it's pure theatre. Let’s accept the fact Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian LaCroix can’t hurt us, except with a little one-fingered slap on the face of our sensibilities.

Rihanna can wear the Mitre and gold mini any time she likes.