On her current MDNA tour, Madonna has flashed her nipple in Istanbul, caused a riot in France after using video footage featuring a swastika over the image of National Front political leader Marine Le Pen and ignored police warnings in Scotland.
But perhaps the pop star's biggest controversy will be when she returns to the USA in just 28 days.
“The symbolism of the swastika represents inhuman horror beyond belief, trivializing its meaning by incorporating the icon of evil into a publicity stunt for pop culture entertainment ... is offensive to the memory of millions of victims of Nazi terror," says Rabbi Dovid Efune, a HuffPost contributor and the editor of the Algemeiner, a leading Jewish newspaper. "This is truly shameful behavior by Madonna."
And refusing to remove fake guns from her USA show just weeks after a shooting tragedy in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater that left 12 dead, might not just be insensitive, but illegal.
"The criminal laws apply equally to Madonna as they do to everyone else,” Stuart Slotnick, a criminal lawyer for the firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, says. “If she possesses a legal prop gun, at the end of the day she will not have any problems. Although she may have to wrangle with warnings from politicians and government officials that want to see their name associated with a defense-of-morals incident. With all that being said, an arrest of Madonna during a show, would not be the first time authorities intervened during a rock concert for behavior they found to be illegal."
Madonna’s first North American show is on Aug. 28 in Philadelphia, after she spends the summer touring Europe, and she can expect her MDNA show to receive its biggest criticisms yet.
“Madonna is a living legend. There’s no one alive today who is bigger than her, and her legacy is amazing. She is probably the biggest pop star in the world, but every great thing must come to an end ... she may have taken it too far this time with a swastika and pulling a gun onstage," Ronn Torossian, the founder of leading PR agency 5WPR, told me.
"The Nazi symbol of a swastika is simply universally offensive -- and it seems Madonna is now desperate for attention, rather than cutting edge. Whether great business leaders, athletes or entertainers, it's important to go out with grace, and with style," Torossian continues.
"Madonna, at her age, pulling these antics cheapens her brand and takes away from her legacy. It’s beneath this marketing genius. As a PR agency owner and professional marketer, I regard her as a marketing genius, but today as a Jewish entrepreneur who owns a PR agency, it's offensive and enough is enough, Madonna.”
CelebrityPhotos Of The Week:
