Madonna: A Woman Thorned Is a Woman Scorned

By Deborah Lambeth

When Madonna opened her tour in Los Angeles on May 21, that’s when the controversy began. About an hour after the show was to have started, a $2M mirrored disco ball with Swarovski crystals was lowered onto the stage. When the 47-year old mother of two emerged from the ball, she was dressed in S&M equestrian gear so tight that it was obvious she has been engaging in some serious yoga and body-building. The entire evening, the crowd was dazzled with Madonna’s energy and with her penchant for outrageous outfits and dances. For example, at one point in the evening, she straddled one of her male dancers and proceeded to dance provocatively to one of the songs from her new album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor."

During the times Madonna went offstage to change, video montages depicting members of the Bush administration and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were interspersed with shots of Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. For some, the images kept the adoring crowd entertained. However, for a large majority of the audience, the pictures made them uncomfortable and outraged. The beginning of a woman scorned.

Coming back from a dressing change, Madonna put on a crown of thorns and sat on a 20-foot high mirrored cross while singing, "Live to Tell." In an attitude of replicating the cross and the crucifixion, her arms were held in place on the cross with silver cuffs while she sang. In the background, videos were playing of third-world poverty scenes and references to over 12 million children orphaned by AIDS in Africa.

It’s interesting to note that it appears the latest controversy surrounding this tour is about money and enticing people to come see what the hype is all about. The concert grossed $193.7 million from 60 shows that drew nearly 1.2 million in paid attendance. Madonna beat out Cher’s previous record of $192.5 million, earned in the course of 273 shows. One has to wonder how much of the money Madonna is receiving from these concerts will be going to aid those third-world children whose images she used for backdrops.

Reactions to her performance have been quick and harsh. The Church of England denounced Madonna's concert, asking whether the songstress was "prepared to take on everything else that goes with wearing a crown of thorns." They went on to say, "Why would someone with so much talent seem to feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people?"

Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement that her performance was just pathetic. "Knock off the Christ-bashing, " he said. He reminded the public of the time that the Pope called for a boycott of the pop star's 1990 Blond Ambition tour because of her saucy "Like a Virgin" performances. A few years prior to that, the video for "Like a Prayer," which features burning crosses and images of a black Jesus figure was condemned by the Vatican.

In her defense, Madonna issued a statement following the final date of her record-breaking Confessions tour. She defended her mock-crucifixion as not being "anti-Christian, sacrilegious, or blasphemous." She went on to say that, "It is no different than a person wearing a cross or 'taking up the cross' as it says in the Bible…Rather, it is my plea to the audience to encourage mankind to help one another and to see the world as a unified whole," Madonna said. "I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing."

It amazes me when people think they know the mind of God so well. When, in reality, we don’t know what in the hell we’re doing.