Another Madonna album, Rebel Heart, is out and a tour is upon us. That can only mean one thing: Europe will burn.
The last time the pop star trekked across the Old World – on 2012’s MDNA tour – politicians from Glasgow to Moscow were left fuming in her wake. The Scots were upset because she defied a police ban on brandishing replica guns when she mock-executed her backup dancers during the blood-spattered routine for the spoken-word club-classic-that-never-was, Gang Bang.
Russian leaders were angry because she pledged support for jailed feminist punks Pussy Riot and defied anti-gay propaganda laws by giving a gay pride speech in St. Petersburg.
Madonna’s Rebel Heart tour doesn’t kick off until August 29 in Miami (with an Air Canada Centre date October 5), but she’s already wading into European politics. On March 2, she invited National Front leader Marine Le Pen out for drinks.
France has a special place in the Material Girl’s heart. When her MDNA tour hit Paris in 2012, the hype was all about the video accompanying Nobody Knows Me, in which the far-right politician’s face appeared emblazoned with a swastika, followed by an image of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
After Madonna played the video in Paris (on Bastille Day, no less), Le Pen dismissed her as an “aging singer” desperate for publicity, and later filed a lawsuit for defamation and public insult. Madonna initially responded by staging an impromptu show at L’Olympia in Paris “to celebrate France’s tolerance,” where she told the crowd, according to Le Parisien, “I’ve heard that a certain Marine Le Pen was upset with me. It’s not my intention to make enemies.”
Eventually, she replaced the swastika with a question mark. The National Front claimed victory, and the French media accused her of caving in. “To my knowledge, Madonna has never changed a video before,” a spokesman for Le Pen’s Blue Marine Rally conservative group told Agence France-Presse. “It’s proof that our arguments won out. It’s excellent news.”
Two years later, the anti-immigration and anti-Europe party is ahead of the ruling Socialists and opposition UMP – with 33 per cent support in the polls – going into this month’s regional elections. Le Pen is shaping up as a serious contender in France’s 2017 presidential race.
While promoting Rebel Heart on March 2, Madonna rekindled the feud in an interview with France’s Europe-1 Radio. She branded the National Front racist and fascist (as she has in the past), alleged that Le Pen had been threatening her and then compared the situation across Europe to Nazi Germany.
“The level of intolerance that’s going on is really scary,” she said. “It’s not just happening in France – it’s all over Europe, but specifically in France. Anti-Semitism, I think, is at an all-time high. People are becoming, behaving and reacting in extremely fearful ways, so it’s scary.”
These comments echoed similar remarks Madonna posted on Instagram following the shooting attack on satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January.
However, Madonna sheepishly tempered her rhetoric a day later during an appearance on Le Grand Journal and even invited Le Pen – who once compared Muslim immigration to the Nazi occupation of France – to chat over drinks. “I think I would like to sit down and have a drink with Marine Le Pen,” Madonna said. “I want to understand where she’s coming from.
“Maybe I misunderstood her. I am not sure,” she added. “I don’t want to start a war. I want peace in the world.”
Perhaps calling Madonna’s bluff, Le Pen accepted the offer “with pleasure.” The two apparently have yet to firm up plans.
Madonna’s turn away from her sexual politics of yore – on display in our 1991 cover story with her – and toward Euro current affairs has us thinking, “‘How come Madonna never directly challenges politicians in North America?”
Madonna did not speak out during the Ferguson protests or when anti-police violence protests swept across the United States last year, but she did post a “Je Suis Charlie” photo in January in solidarity with the French people, and followed up with another expressing solidarity with the teenage girls held captive in Nigeria by radical Islamists Boko Haram.
Madonna is all about freedom of expression, as evidenced by her Art For Freedom project and recent homage to late South African anti-apartheid titan Nelson Mandela and other black -leaders.
Not unlike Le Pen in France, North American politicians are using fear of global terrorism and events like the Charlie Hebdo killings to justify draconian laws and mass surveillance. The U.S. is not exempt from anti-immigration sentiment. House Republicans recently voted against President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, essentially supporting mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.
While standing up for people’s rights in France, Russia and Turkey, Madonna could try drawing attention to issues closer to home during her Rebel Heart tour. There are, after all, plenty of incidents in North America that should be putting Ms. Ciccone’s back up.
Bill C-51 could be used to silence Canadians’ rebel hearts
When Madonna comes to the Air Canada Centre on October 5, Prime Minister Stephen Harper could be in the throes of a federal election campaign and, if he sticks to his present strategy, will be using the threat of terrorism to scare voters into re-electing the Conservatives. As Madonna has shown in the past, a pop concert is as good a place as any to denounce such fears.
Before she comes to Toronto, Madonna could read the open letter to all members of Parliament signed by 100 legal experts who believe the proposed anti-terrorism legislation endangers Canadians’ constitutionally protected rights.
We love Secret, but not secret police. We look forward to seeing Harper in Madonna’s old “state of the world” concert montage.
Bathroom bills and trans rights
It looks like a bill to protect transgender Canadians will die on the order table when an election is called this fall, thanks to Conservative senator Don Plett, who introduced an amendment that would exempt prisons, public washrooms and change rooms from the bill. If it passes with that amendment, transgender women would be forced to use men’s washrooms and transgender men would have to use the women’s.
“Bathroom bills” have also been proposed in U.S. jurisdictions, but often with the aim of targeting and punishing trans people. In Arizona, one such bill proposed by Republican John Kavanagh was shelved last year. However, state Republicans backing the legislation at the time vowed to revive the issue in the future.
Since Madonna identifies as a gay man, she could do worse than support the rights of transgender people across North America – say, by throwing some love behind the Victoria, BC, transgender woman currently protesting Plett’s amendment by using men’s facilities.
Police violence and racial profiling
Madonna called for an end to violence between Israel and Palestine last summer in a series of Instagram posts, and condemned police violence in Turkey two years ago. However, her social media feeds were silent on the widespread protests against the police shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Nor did she acknowledge the case of Eric Garner, who died after being put in an illegal chokehold by an NYPD officer.
Maybe she doesn’t want to be accused of hijacking the cause, but she brushed off similar accusations following her “Je Suis Charlie” Instagram post.
Why she speaks louder and angrier in other countries rather than in her own is a mystery. Does she fear political or commercial repercussions?
In the context of pop, which is all about universality, Madonna is an odd figure because she represents the material success many people seek but has increasingly used her fame to draw attention to the fight for self-expression and truth. As the Le Pen feud shows, she is willing to get specific.
The tension between these two things has resulted in rousing moments (the St. Petersburg speech) and awkward ones (her appearance on Le Grand Journal).
Of course, it’s laudable to draw attention to far-flung conflicts, but Madonna’s upcoming tour is as good a chance as any for her to talk specifically about intolerance at home.
Hey, Madonna, express yourself. Don’t bury important issues in another cliched, overly general montage about world affairs.
kevinr@nowtoronto.com | @kevinritchie
