Tag Archives: Controversy

Today in Madonna History: June 3, 2012

June 3, 2020 By in 2012, June Tags: , , , 1 Comment

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On June 3 2012, Marine Le Pen threatened to sue Madonna if she included her image with a swastika during her shows in France.

Here’s a snippet of an article that appeared in the Telegraph:

The fleeting image was shown at a concert the US-born singer gave in Tel Aviv last Thursday as part of her MDNA World Tour.

Projected during the song Nobody Knows Me, the film morphed Madonna’s face with a number of famous figures, including Chinese leader Hu Jinatao, US Republican former presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Pope Benedict XVI.

Miss Le Pen’s eyes and forehead then appear for a second before a swastika and the eyes of Adolf Hitler are superimposed onto the FN leader.

Furious, Miss Le Pen threatened to sue the singer if she kept the video unchanged when she performs in Paris on the July 14 national holiday and in Nice in August. “If she does that in France, we’ll be waiting for her,” she told Le Parisien.

Hitting back at Madonna, she was quoted by the newspaper as asking: “By the way, has Madonna given back the children she stole from Africa? Or did she end up buying them?”

Today in Madonna History: April 16, 2003

April 16, 2020 By in 2003, April Tags: , , , 4 Comments

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On April 16 2003, Madonna released an edited version of the American Life video on VH-1.

The edited version (also called the “flag” version) featured Madonna singing in front of a backdrop of ever-changing flags of different countries.

Today in Madonna History: April 12, 1994

April 12, 2020 By in 1994, April Tags: , , 1 Comment

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On April 12 1994, Madonna sent a handwritten note to David Letterman wishing him a “Happy Fucking Birthday”.

Sent less than two weeks after her infamous profanity-laced appearance on the Late Show, the cheeky letter takes Letterman to task for having used the controversy to his advantage.

Today in Madonna History: April 6, 2017

April 6, 2020 By in 2017, April Tags: , , , , 3 Comments

 

On April 6 2017, CNN published an article explaining why Madonna understands a little something about pulled Pepsi commercials:

In 1989, she starred in a Pepsi commercial that was pulled because of controversy over the music video for Like A Prayer, which featured burning crosses and showed Madonna kissing a black actor portraying a saint.

She reminded the world of this bit of pop culture history Wednesday when she posted on Instagram about the disastrous Pepsi ad featuring Kendall Jenner.

 “When you wake up and realize that SHIT just really doesn’t make sense. Side Note: My Pepsi commercial was pulled 30 years ago because I was kissing a black saint! #ironic.”

 

Today In Madonna History: March 16, 2001

March 16, 2020 By in 2001, March Tags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

On March 16 2001, MTV and VH1 networks announced that Madonna’s new video for What It Feels Like For A Girl would be broadcast only once on March 20 at 11:30 pm because of the controversy over its violent content.

Madonna later released What It Feels Like For A Girl as a DVD single.

Madonna biographer Andrew Morton had this to say about the video:

“The video is entirely consistent with the themes that she has been exploring for the last twenty years, namely the relationship between the sexes, the ambiguity of gender, and the unresolved conflict, for women in a patriarchal society of being fully female and sexual while exercising control over their lives.”

Today in Madonna History: February 29, 2012

February 29, 2020 By in 2012, February Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

On February 29 2012, Shirley Manson of the band Garbage talked to Bullet Media and defended Madonna against ageist, misogynistic critics:

“The tabloids complain about Madonna looking old, and people laugh at her for that. Then Madonna goes and fixes her face, and they laugh at her for that. Even though they begrudgingly say she looks amazing, they’ll still laugh at her for trying to look young. Then she steps out, looking amazing, and the tabloids go and blow up a picture of her aging hand. Nobody’s doing that to George Clooney, blowing up pictures of his hands! I look at these magazines, and I want to say to them, ‘What’s your point? That she’s aged? Does that surprise you? Or is your ‘point’ an attempt to undercut what she’s achieved?’ I think it is, even if it’s on a subconscious level. And you probably wouldn’t turn down those hands if they were grabbing you under the table, you fucking idiots!”

Today in Madonna History: January 21, 2017

January 21, 2020 By in 2017, January Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

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On January 21 2017, Madonna participated in the Women’s March on Washington. In addition to delivering a powerful speech (watch the full video below), Madonna also performed Express Yourself and Human Nature.

Here is the full transcript of the speech Madonna delivered to over 500,000 people:

“Hello.

“Are you still awake out there?

“Are you sure about that?

“Can you hear me?

“Are you ready to shake up up the world?

“Welcome to the revolution of love. To the rebellion. To our refusal as women to accept this new age of tyranny. Where not just women are in danger but all marginalized people. Where people uniquely different might be considered a crime. It took us this darkness to wake us the fuck up.

“It seems as though we had all slipped into a false sense of comfort. That justice would prevail and that good would win in the end. Well, good did not win this election but good will win in the end. So what today means is that we are far from the end. Today marks the beginning, the beginning of our story. The revolution starts here. The fight for the right to be free, to be who we are, to be equal. Let’s march together through this darkness and with each step. Know that we are not afraid. That we are not alone, that we will not back down. That there is power in our unity and that no opposing force stands a chance in the face of true solidarity.

“And to our detractors that insist that this March will never add up to anything, fuck you. Fuck you. It is the beginning of much needed change. Change that will require sacrifice, people. Change that will require many of us to make different choices in our lives, but this is the hallmark of revolution. So my question to you today is are you ready? I said, are you ready? Say yes, we are ready. Say, yes we are ready. One more time: you’re ready.

“Yes, I’m angry. Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot of blowing up the White House, but I know that this won’t change anything. We cannot fall into despair. As the poet, W.H. Auden once wrote on the eve of World War II: We must love one another or die.

“I choose love. Are you with me? Say this with me: We choose love. We choose love. We choose love.”