On September 17 1998, Madonna released a statement against the World Vaisnava Association’s criticism of her Ray of Light/Shanti MTV performance: “The essence of purity and divinity is non-judgement… they should practice what they preach… if they’re so pure, why are they watching MTV?”
On July 16 1985, the Penthouse magazine issue of nude Madonna photos was released.
On July 5 1987, Madonna was interviewed by Jane Pauley on NBC-TV’s Today and caused a controversy when she referred to her hometown of Bay City, Michigan as “a smelly little town” – a comment that enraged the citizens of Bay City.
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?”
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.
On April 5 2003, an Australian interview aired that demonstrated Madonna’s quick change of heart regarding the American Life music video.
During the interview with Richard Wilkins, the following dialog takes place:
Wilkins: “You’re going to get all sorts of criticism I think.”
Madonna: “Why. Tell me why!”
W: “People are going to say it’s inappropriate to show bombs going off and planes bombing people.”
M: “Why? That’s on the news every five minutes! I’m just using news footage that’s already been seen by everyone.”
W: “I’m suggesting that some people are going to think maybe it’s ill-timed.”
M: “But in a way it’s perfect timing, because it’s what we are experiencing right now – so, it’s American life. It’s very current and appropriate I think.”
Wilkins may have convinced Madonna to go cold on the idea.
“Maybe I did, perhaps I caused her to think again,” he said. “She is very proud of the video, as she should be because it’s incredible.”
By the time the interview aired (a week later), Madonna had already pulled the American Life video and made a statement regarding her choice.
You can read the statement and watch the full music video here.
On April 4 1989, Pepsi-Cola announced it had banned all future broadcasts of the Madonna/Pepsi-Cola commercial, cancelled her 1-year contract and the sponsorship of what would have been the Like A Prayer World Tour, due to the boycott threats from religious groups against her own Like A Prayer music video.
Here’s a snippet of an article from the New York Times (printed April 5, 1989):
”When you’ve got an ad that confuses people or concerns people, it just makes sense that that ad goes away,” said Tod MacKenzie, a spokesman for Pepsico Inc. He would not say whether Pepsico had canceled its sponsorship of Madonna’s tour.
Pepsico paid Madonna more than $5 million to appear in a two-minute commercial that first appeared on March 2. In it, Madonna traveled back to her 8th birthday.
Jay’s Thought: Had the Like A Prayer World Tour gone forward as planned, Madonna might not have participated in Dick Tracy or released I’m Breathless or Vogue for that matter. How different would the Like A Prayer World Tour set-list have been from Blond Ambition?
Today In Madonna History 