Once the queen of controversy, Madonna has taken a more subdued stance in recent years. But when she heads to Russia in August to tour with MDNA, she’s ready to flout the new law in St. Petersburg banning “propaganda” that would lead minors to “the false perception that traditional and nontraditional relationships are socially equal.”
“I will come to St. Petersburg to speak up for the gay community and to give strength and inspiration to anyone who is or feels oppressed,” Madonna said in a statement Tuesday. “I’m a freedom fighter… I don’t run away from adversity.”
Yes, well, you don’t run away from making a few rubles either, do you? Madonna plans on opening one of her Hard Candy fitness centers in St. Petersburg by 2013. (She already opened one last year in Moscow—around the corner from the Kremlin, no less.)
We don’t think “strength and inspiration” mean killer delts, Madge. Unless you’re going to hire disenfranchised queer kids to work at the smoothie bar.
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dee-dee
Madge just out for herself?…. In other news the sky is blue.
Jay
Way to not post her entire statement. You’re worse than Fox News when it comes to bias and selective reporting. Madonna is and will always be an amazing advocate for our community
Christopher Banks
So what’s the full story then?
xamthor
She’s infiltrating the enemy. The gym is just a cover for a Underground Gay base of operations. She’s bringing the Russians down from the inside.
Seth
So wtf should she do run and hide? I respect Madonna more than any other female artist bc she has balls, stands up for what she believes in (and has done that decades before anyone uttered the name GaGa) and had always told oppressive straight males to fuck off, that’s why they fear her. I think having the concert and making a statement is the best way for her to get her message of tolerance, empowerment and equality across. She might not have worn the word gay across her chest for the past decade or so but she has never left us.
DouggSeven
She’d make bigger headlines and do better for the cause if she publically announed her plans to NOT put her gym there and ask that similar ventures by corporations be put on hold as well. Boycott is how you deal with this situation.
BubbasBack
WTF? Ha, money always rules. So yeah, she throws a few crumbs to our brothers in St. Pete, but will collect more rubles than she needs by opening a gym. Doesn’t she have enough money? She’s part of the 1 percent, but I guess that’s neer enough. What kind of advocate is this? Fellas, wake up! God, boys, always deluded by celebrities who laugh all the way to the bank at our expense. Major burp.
BubbasBack
@Seth: What? What crap is this! You’re blind brother. Burp.
BubbasBack
@DouggSeven: Right on! You got it. Burp.
BobP
@Jay:
Really? What else has she done for our community?
J Stratford
Boycott is okay
Telling them off is okay too
Come on folks, there is more than one way to get the message across. Madonna will be heard by a full stadium of people saying that the law is wrong. I think that is more powerful , more social buzz, than a tired old boycott.
Kaio
Maybe I am just too young, but I never really saw Madonna fighting for gay rights. Gaga, on the other hand, has gone to rallies, spoke up about prop 8 – a lot, and her songs explicitly stand up for gay rights.
Rodrigo Trujillo
Madonna has spoken about gay rights and about AIDS many times! Plain ignorance to say she hasn’t! Before signing This life on the Girlie show Tour, she spoke about AIDS. She wrote that song about her friends that died of it.
Also, she doesn’t owe you anything and you should take the support with open arms.
pedro
@Rodrigo Trujillo: ya she spoke about AIDS hundreds of years ago…she plans to do this “rally” at one of her concerts not a public speaking cause she wants money of course…and now she comes out with men making out on Girls Gone Wild all of a sudden.. talk about using the gay community
Jake
Christ you bitter all queens need to shut up. Madonna has ALWAYS been an advocate for the gay community. She has said time and time again it was her gay dance teacher that introduced her to a world she never knew existed and opened her eyes and mind to all this creativity. She has had countless gay friends, spoke up for gays and gay righs 25 years BEFORE anyone knew what a Lady GaGa was (and when support of the gay community could have been suicide). It’s so easy to critize her b/c she has matured, grown and become a wife and mother as the years passed but she’s never stopped supporting the cause. Between being and AIDS advocate adn speaking out against bullying I don’t understand what you all think she should be doing. I know this is Madonna and the bar is high but did it ever occur to you all that people like Madonna have made it easier for all of us by opening the eyes, ears and minds of middle American when gasp…she’s made us seem like people?
BubbasBack
@Jake: Boooooring. Public relations crap from Craponna fans who are delusional and think she really gives a fuck about us. if so, why the hell doesn’t she donate a couple million of dollars to gay causes, not just a $500,000 check, peanuts when you think that with her last tour alone she made over 400 million. Papa don’t preach my ass. Burp.
TJ
Madonna has done nothing for the gay community except market to them and pander for cash. Where was she during the whole Prop8 fiasco? No where to be found! She is self centered money grubbing egomaniac. Ask yourself, what has Madonna done that has made YOUR gay life better? Just one thing? See – you can’t recall anything, neither can I. Running her idiotic uneducated mouth doesn’t count either. She’s an untalented fraud.
Just being real
Well said TJ! FTW, +1,000! Madonna isn’t any sort of ally to the LGBT community at all and never has been.
Seaguy
Lame story Queerty. Madonna is standing up for gay rights but that does not mean she has to back out of business plans that involve others and were probably negotiated long ago. Having a facility there with her name on it means a place where gays can workout without fear and it can help to bring about change.
Stop being so biased against Madonna!
Rodrigo Trujillo
@pedro: If she is talking about gay rights right now its because she wants to give us her support, she can get plenty of money without talking about gay rights. Like you just said, she talked about it years ago. Sticky and Sweet tour was only in 2008 and it broke plenty of selling records.
Blake
Fuck you queens will throw anyone under the bus at any moment. Just yesterday when asked what are 3 things she’d do if she was President Madonna said she’d make Gay marriage legal. What do Britney, Mariah, Beyonce, Rihanna and your other beloved pop stars do for gay rights? Madonna has done more than any other female artist including GaGa b/c she did it when it could have destroyed her entire career but she didn’t give a fuck. It’s pretty easy to say “I love the gays” in 2012 when everyone is doing it. Well you bitter fucks Madonna was saying that back in 1992 when most of the country left us to die at the height of the AIDS pandemic.