15 scandals that made Madonna the queen of pop (and provocation)
La Ciccone turns 60 years old and it does not seem that she intends to retire after decades selling millions of records and sowing controversy.
The unleashed bride: the myth begins. In 1984 the first edition of the MTV Video Music Awards was held and he did it in a big way. The most famous performance of the gala was that of a Madonna who had not yet fully emerged in the mass controversy and who took the opportunity to hatch. Dressed as a wedding, with a thigh garter included and a belt with the words 'Boy Toy', she interpreted her hit Like A Virgin with a 'choreography' that led her to crawl on the floor while she made sexually explicit movements. Such a spectacle dynamited the most conservative minds in the United States, who shouted to the sky and accused her of perverted, depraved and other niceties like her, in addition to promoting her sex before her marriage.
Dad, don't be mad. A teenager explains to her father that she has become pregnant and asks for her understanding in the lyrics of Papa Do n’t Preach, a song included in her album True Blue (1986). It caused quite a stir, especially in pro-life groups and in the upper echelons of the Catholic Church. In fact, there began his turbulent relationship with Pope John Paul II, specifically when on the concert screens of his Who’s That Girl World Tour in 1987, the image of the pontiff was projected interspersed with messages in favor of safe sex.
The five million Pepsi. In 1989 the soft drink brand signed a contract with Madonna to star in an ad (the strategy had worked before with Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston) entitled Make a wish (make a wish) with a new song Like a Prayer. A non-controversial commercial focused on the childhood memories of the protagonist. However, the video of the official presentation of the song was quite different and supposed - again - an uproar: a rape, a black saint, eroticism in the church and even a gospel choir. The spot aired for the first time during the Bill Cosby Show and the next day MTV premiered the other, Pepsi Nightmare. So many were the complaints of the American Christian associations that the brand broke its commercial relationship with the artist, although she was left with 5 million and world fame (it is estimated that 250 million people in the world saw the ad on the first day of issue).
Justify my love. Directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, the video for the first single from the compilation - although this is an unreleased song written by Lenny Kravitz - The Inmaculate Collection (1990) caused even more shock than its predecessors. In this the sexual images were even more daring and showed nudity, homosexual relations or scenes of sadomasochism. MTV and other music networks could not resist the pressure and censured him for being too explicit. Madonna went to ABC's Nightline program to claim her work, although in reality, all the controversy helped sales skyrocket.
Sex, the height of provocation. In 1992 the Erotica album and the Sex book arrived, both with titles that left no room for doubt. On the album, Madonna becomes her alter ego Mistress Dita and sings about passion, desire and love. In the video clip of the song that gives the album its name, there are images of all kinds of relationships and sexual fantasies such as threesomes, orgies or BDSM, among others. The public and critical reaction was so exacerbated that, later, Madonna declared that she came to think that her career would end with that job. Debates in the media (including a Nieves Herrero program), magazine covers and headlines accusing her of having exceeded all limits. The scandal was such that last year, YouTube removed it from its platform although it recovered it to coincide with the 25th anniversary of its publication.
Her friendship with the Popes of Rome. After projecting her face on the screens of her concerts on the Who 's That Girl World Tour in 1987, Madonna once again encountered the rejection of John Paul II on the Blonde Ambition Tour, who went so far as to describe it as "a real disgrace. ”. The pontiff tried to ban the show in the country and, in fact, excommunicated her. But those scuffles did not make the queen of pop daunted by the pressure of the Catholic Church and in 2006 she again challenged her patience by appearing on stage crucified in neon (in the photo), a blasphemy of light and color, in her Confessions Tour tour. In 2008 it was Benedict XVI's nerves that twitched when the Italian-American dedicated Like A Virgin to him on his Sticky & Sweet show and in 2015 he sent a greeting to the current Pope Francis on his MDNA tour, although this message was more cordial. In total, the singer has been excommunicated three times.
Jean Paul Gaultier, your trusted designer. Madonna has worn many outfits throughout her 35-year career, but few of her represent her as much as Jean Paul Gaultier's corsets with cones covering the breasts that she wore on the World Ambition Tour. She also took advantage of the model but in bra format to attend the presentation of the documentary Madonna Truth or Dare, combining it with a girdle and a cape by the same designer. However, and paradoxically, one of the most memorable outfits of the pair was the latex jumpsuit with exposed breasts that he wore at the charity show organized by Gaultier to raise money for the fight against AIDS, which was attended by more than 6,000 people in 1992. They raised $ 750,000
The video denouncing the Iraq war In 2003 the blonde ambition published an album that deviated from the general line of the previous ones. Titled American Life, it left aside the more danceable melodies and focused more on the lyrics, with a high political content (mainly against President Bush). Characterized as Che Guevara on the cover, the video with which the artist wanted to present the album featured a fashion show in which the models wore gas masks or had amputated limbs. Although the clip had already been seen internationally, Madonna canceled its premiere in the United States and posted a statement on her website in which she explained that it had been shot before the start of the war and that she did not consider it appropriate to release it in that moment. The truth is that with that album she did not get the success that she expected and it was a small bump in her career.
Kisses with Britney and Christina. Year 2003, delivery of the MTV Music Awards. Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera take the stage singing Like a Virgin. The decoration is the famous wedding cake and the novices act dressed in white with a veil and a bouquet of flowers. After the chorus, the music stops and Madonna emerges from the cake dressed as a "boyfriend" in a top hat and a leather suit. They go on to perform Hollywood, with Aguilera and Spears already lighter in clothes, without a veil or bouquet and when they finish the song, Ciccone kisses them on the mouth before giving way to Missy Elliot, who joins the show rapping. There was hardly any talk about her performance, because everything was left in the mouths of the first three.
The mess of adoptions. In 2006, the singer was accused of using her fame to speed up the process of adopting a child in Malawi, as she had not met the minimum period of residence in the country required to obtain permission to adopt. Three years later, she again had problems with the adoption of her daughter Mercy James, since the biological family reported that they had been deceived in the signing of her papers. The artist created the Raising Malawi foundation in 2006 to help the country's needy children and in 2017 she adopted twins Stella and Estere. She always denied all the accusations and, in fact, she denounced the Mail Online newspaper for tampering with privacy during the adoption process of the girls and won the lawsuit.
Marine Lepen's fury. In 2012, during her MDNA tour of hers, she projected the image of French politician Marine Lepen with a swastika drawn on her forehead, preceding a photograph of a man very much like Hitler. Lepen did not take it well at all so she denounced her and Madonna changed the swastika for a question mark at the following concerts. Of course, when the National Front (Lepen's party) obtained good results in the elections of May 25, 2014, Ciccone published on its Instagram account a photo of the front page of the Liberation newspaper with the text: “Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela ... now France? !!!!! #fightFascism #fightdiscrimination #fightlynchmobmentality #fighthatred #fightdorffreedom #revolutionforlove ”
Chest bare Literally. At her 2012 Istanbul concert, during the song Human Nature, Madonna took off the cloth that covered her left breast, exposing it for a short time. That gesture raised a wave of comments, among them that she was already too old to do that kind of thing.
The anti-Trump speech. The artist was one of the celebrities who came to the fore to speak during the women's march in January 2017, against the policies of the current president of the United States. Making her political convictions clear again, the singer expressed that she was indignant and angry and that she had even thought about blowing up the White House, but that she knew it would be useless and that she was betting on love and not death . The CIA threatened to get serious about the explosives at the presidential residence, her music was banned from a Texas radio station and the blonde mogul called it "disgusting."
Age is not a limit. At the beginning of 2018, Madonna published a photo of her on her Instagram account in which she is not particularly favored: without makeup, taken from below and with one breast exposed (with the nipple covered with a marker pen) . The portrait is far from the usual ones in a diva like her, but her provocation has always been her motor and that a 60-year-old woman publishes a selfie like that on her social networks is. In fact, checking it is very easy: you just have to read the multiple messages of rejection from her followers. Acts of rebellion are much more comfortable now than 20 years ago
The Lisbon car park. The queen of pop has installed her residence in the capital of Portugal, in an 18th century building called Palácio Ramalhete, which until recently functioned as a hotel. The people of Lisbon were put on a war footing when they learned that Madonna was not paying anything for a piece of land that the council had left her to park her fleet of 15 cars. Keep in mind that the city has a considerable space problem in addition to increasingly high prices due to tourism and gentrification, so the matter became a scandal since it was considered that the singer was receiving a treatment from favor from the council. The conflict has been resolved with a rental fee of 720 euros per month for parking.
