She may be the Queen of Pop, but it seems Madonna overestimated her influence and has been forced to apologise after she appeared to compare herself to the likes of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.
The 56-year-old was promoting her upcoming album, Rebel Heart, when she shared several photoshopped images of iconic leaders and legends with black ribbon wound across their faces - in the same style as Madge on her album cover. “This #rebelheart had a dream!” she captioned the Instagram snap of MLK Jr on Friday (Jan. 2) She wrote, “This #rebelheart fought for freedom!” alongside Mandela's image.
Madonna recreated her album cover with famous faces (Instagram)
The photoshopped images were created by her fans, but whilst images of Marilyn Monroe and Miley Cyrus sporting the black ribbon were ignored, several users took offence at Madge's doctored snaps of civil rights activists and world leaders, with some claiming that the posts were racist. Twitter exploded with outraged fans, with one user commenting, “#1 pop culture problem of 2015 so far is Madonna force-wrapping peoples' faces in Rebel Heart promo how do we get it to stop.” Whilst another posted, “madonna has two black children. that's the scariest part about her behaviour.”
After receiving such a negative backlash, the Like A Virgin hitmaker took to Facebook to defend the images, and insisted that the shots were neither insulting or racist. "I'm sorry. I'm not comparing my self to anyone,” she wrote. “I'm admiring and acknowledging there Rebel Hearts. This is niether a crime or an insult or racist! I also did it with Michael jaclson and frida khalo and marilyn monroe
“Am I saying I am them NO. I'm saying they are Rebel Hearts too. And I didn't do it. My fans did And I just re posted those photos. My fans aren't racist either. If they put me in the same category as these other people. Thank you. I'm very flattered and I hope one day to live up to 1 100th of what those people accomplished. - Madonna. [sic]”
Fans were outraged when Madonna defaced snaps of iconic leaders (Instagram)
But she clearly wasn't feeling that remorseful as on the very next day she shared more photoshopped images, this time of artist and musician Basquiat and the late Princess Diana. And in case Madonna's 'apology' with it's appalling spelling mistakes and grammatical errors was too confusing to understand, she also summed up exactly what she was hoping to achieve with the images.
As the caption for a doctored image of John Lennon, she wrote, “I would like to thank all my fans for recreating my album cover with the Rebel Heart ribbon on the faces of so many Great Hero's. It shows that you are also celebrating and in admiration of these great freedom fighters! When I repost these images i am saying YES! These people are all Rebel Hearts in one way or another from Martin Luther King to Jesus to Nelson Mandela to John Lennon. YES! Lets celebrate them! The world needs more people like them.
“I hope to one day accomplish. 1 100th of what these Rebel Hearts have accomplished. As I Said in a previous post "I walk in the footsteps of Giants" and i will continue to do so G*D willing. They are my guiding light. #rebelheart #livingforlove" -Madonna [sic]”
Madonna continued to post images after she was forced to defend them (Instagram)
