It’s not like I was looking forward to seeing Madonna sing "Live to Tell" while mounted on a disco-mirrored crucifix anyway. Madge’s martyr complex may be the most tiresome element of her persona. Still, that may have been the only thing that was going to get the curious to tune in to her Nov. 22 concert special on NBC. Now that the network has announced the controversial imagery won’t be shown (the concert has been re-edited, apparently with Madonna’s reluctant acquiescence), the special has lost its biggest ratings draw.
The decision may not make sense on practical grounds, but then NBC’s game lately is entirely defensive (and not at all offensive, in any sense of the word). This is also the network that caved earlier this year on The Book of Daniel; the surprise isn’t that they backtracked on their earlier assertions that Madonna could keep the crucifix sequence but that they agreed to air it in the first place.
What irks me is that the same people who complained that NBC didn’t showthose Danish Mohammed cartoons are now praising the network forcensoring Madonna. I’m guessing that NBC runs more offensive-to-Christians material every week on Studio 60, but it’s not the big takedown target that Madonna is. Now everybody — NBC, the religious protesters,and Madonna herself (who defended the crucifix routine in a lengthy statement a few weeks ago, then quietly cut it from the broadcast) — can pretend they’ve done something significant to protect the delicate sensibilities of American viewers. Congratulations, everyone! Sleep easy tonight.
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I’m just glad that at least they’re going to show the concert on NBC. I went to the very last concert from the tour in Miami las july, and it was out of this world. I can’t wait for the broadcast, i know people are goin to love the show,Madonna fans that could’nt go to the tour and non fans alike.
Congratultions?
madooooo….zzzzzz….sorry, i started to comment and then fell asleep…madonna…really?…what…?
Thanks, Brandonk. Typo fixed.
Gary Susman misrepresents the critics of Madonna’s concert and the Danish Mohammed cartoons. The issue is fairness. The news media repeatedly shows us images of “Piss Christ” and “Dung Mary” as examples of “controversial works of art”, knowing this will offend Christians, but they did not air pictures of offensive cartoons against Muslims because, well there’s a double standard there. (That, and a fear of extremist-Muslim retaliation).
This is a double standard.
Now, for those of you who fear that censorship has taken part, will you join the cause against NBC, getting them to air Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato the way they were originally intended?
Studio 60 is not attacked by Christians because they aren’t watching it. In fact, who is watching it? By the way, there is adifference between Studio 60’s insults towards Christians and Madonna’s “artistic expression.” With the former, Christians are used to being the kicking dogs of the media, so we can take it. What Madonna is doing is outright blasphemy and that is an insult to God. That’s not so cool for Christians and is worth a boycott or two. I mean honestly, wouldn’t you want to beat the tar out of someone who made fun of your mother? That’s how Christians feel when you make fun of Jesus and his sacrifice. Only instead of beating Madonna up, we protest.
This is such a wimp move by NBC. It’s no loss for Madonna, because everyone will watch the show anyway, but NBC look like retards with no sense of artistic integrity or interest. They succumbed to those idiots.
So freedom of speech is non-existent in this country? What a shocker! Madonna should just show it on HBO or just sell the dvd. What a sad state of affairs, I am embarassed to live in the US.
I feel as though that since Madonna’s name has been drug through the mud so much these past few weeks concerning the adoption of the baby boy from Malawi, that this “shocking” tidbit concerning her upcoming special on NBC just seemed expected. So sad for NBC, especially since they’ve taken the initiative with the “Crazy Christians” skit on STUDIO 60 every Monday night, I’m guessing that REALLY is just a fictional show, & in no-way-shape-or-form represents any of the forward thinking executive decisions made by NBS, err, I mean, NBC, SORRY!
I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out why Madonna is even airing this concert on network television, and allowing the most prominent song to be cut. Sure, the tour was incredible, and THE most successful tour done by a solo femlae of all time, but for once Madonna really has nothing to promote. There are members of the media, as well as 50 or so plus political groups that would have you believe the African adoption was nothing but a P.R. stunt, but then if those people took the time to actually consider the facts, they might actually have an epiphany & realize that Madonna has never exploited her own kids,& has always done right by them, & is considering an excellent parent. There are MANY celebrity mothers who could & should take some cues from her. Her last single, “JUMP” will surprise just about everyone if radio makes it a hit here in the U.S., eventhough its one of her most melodic songs in recent memory. The press wants to discuss every little minute detail of her life, & yet won’t actually cover or comment on her latest track. How funny is that?? The press avoiding mentioning the work that is Madonna’s day job, and everyone wonders why more of her songs from CONFESSIONS weren’t hits in the U.S. & why this generation says she’s washed up.
So again, I gotta wonder why the woman has caught so much flak lately. Aren’t there any OTHER celebrities doing anything remotely interesting that the press could attack?? Oh, I guess we’ll all be waiting another 9 months for Brad & Angelina to give birth to another kid in Africa…..
With Madge the controversy is not to show it, not that she’s being hung on a cross. All of know, even Christians, that they hung all sorts of people on the cross back then; it’s not exclusivly for Jesus. He was only one of thousands who got hung.
I love Madge but really, who cares?
I find it funny that the people who are so outraged by Madonna’s “crucifixion” most likely (99% sure) haven’t even seen the concert. To say that Madonna is “making fun of Jesus” is ridiculous and proves people haven’t seen the show live. Having seen it (from the FIRST row of the catwalk) I can say there was NOTHING blasphomous about the crucifixion scene .. or .. any other part of the concert. The Religious Right is slowing taking over this country and no one seems to care.
No matter — I’ll still watch and anxiously await the DVD release — when I can see the show (again) the way it was meant to be seen.
I’d also like to add to those who are so “offended” by the scene .. have you ever heard of changing the channel? Pressuring a network to drop a scene that “you” personally find offensive is nothing short of censorship …..
Dan,
Just because you saw it and found it inoffensive doesn’t mean that others didn’t see it and found it offensive. Even that 1% who did see it (and who successfully shared their problems with it due to the Internet–woohoo Internet), their voice is as valid as yours.
NBC has three options. They can reedit the offending number out, they can show clips from the obscure movie Live To Tell is from, or they can make a game show out of it.
nick…don’t get between a queen and his madonna…you’ve been warned
Nick .. Good point. I’m sure there are those who have seen it and were offended. However, I find the tacky way the women on “The Bachelor-Rome” parade themselves around, hawking their soul to be on TV, but, you know what, I don’t expect ABC to cancel the show or censor it for my tastes. Instead, I opt to avoid the show and not watch it. Hence, my point is, if someone is offended by the scene, don’t watch it.
The same people who are complaining about the scene and pressuring NBC wouldn’t watch the concert with or without the scene in the first place. Let’s face it .. Madonna’s “star” is not as bright as it once was and there is only a small minority of people who would even plan to tune in anyway. Why ruin it for those people????
Ooops — correction to my previous post:
Nick .. Good point. I’m sure there are those who have seen it and were offended. However, I find the tacky way the women on “The Bachelor-Rome” parade themselves around, hawking their soul to be on TV offensive, but, you know what, I don’t expect ABC to cancel the show or censor it for my tastes. Instead, I opt to avoid the show and not watch it. Hence, my point is, if someone is offended by the scene, don’t watch it.
The same people who are complaining about the scene and pressuring NBC wouldn’t watch the concert with or without the scene in the first place. Let’s face it .. Madonna’s “star” is not as bright as it once was and there is only a small minority of people who would even plan to tune in anyway. Why ruin it for those people????
Dan…
Do you have any advice to give to those folks who put down hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to see Madge perform live, only to be offended by Madge’s theatrics… How could they change the channel?
People who are offended CAN just change the channel, and likely would, and that’s why NBC is cutting the potentially offensive part, right? Despite the insulting and depressing rubbish of shows like “The Bachelor,” enough people aren’t changing the channel for ABC to keep it on (alas). It’s about business, right? I wonder whethere NBC would alienate more viewers by running the potentially offensive “Live to Tell” song, or by cutting it?
As for “Studio 60″ … I happen to be a Christian who watches the show, and though some aspects definitely are a little cringe-worthy at times, it’s actually one of the few shows on network primetime TV that represents a Christian character who I’d consider both likable and legitimate, who isn’t hokey or all snobbishly holier-than-thou.
Nick,
You’re talking about two completely different things. The concert live and the cutting of a scene by NBC.
To those who paid $350 for their seats and were offended, what can I say? They could’ve left and gone to the bathroom during that scene, or, left entirely. Again, free choice.
Finally — I highly doubt that there were that many peope going to the show who were offended/surprised. It was all over the media for weeks AND I’m skeptical that Madonna has many overly religious fans in the first place (or at least religious enough to take the scene “literal”).
If Madonna does the crucifixion everyone talks about it and has a problem, but if someone else does it, like David Bisbal (very popular latin singer from Spain), does it in his music video and puts it on the cover of his CD ‘Premonicion’ it don’t matter.
http://www.amazon.com/Premonicion-David-Bisbal/dp/B000I2IQBA/sr=8-1/qid=1161372160/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-8206490-0580842?ie=UTF8
Oooh Nick, Dan C served you!
Dan C, a queen and his Madonna – LOVE IT!
Dan, I suspect you have never been in a position where an artist you like says/does something that completely offends you, and you are torn between leaving (thus, throwing away hundreds of dollars), or pushing yourself thru the crowded row, “excuse me, excuse me, sorry”, only to find that the music is piped in whereever you go. Or worse, if you paid to go to the general admission floor, and you don’t dare move lest you lose your spot.
Years ago I went and saw a female musician whom I knew next-to-nothing about, and while I enjoyed most of the show, she went into a diatribe that utterly insulted me and misrepresented what my beliefs were. It’s not like I can dialogue in a situation like that. It’s not like I can be obnoxious like the person screaming “Judas!!” at a Bob Dylan concert. To you, the answer is that I have free choice… to kiss mucho dinero bye-bye.
On television, we do have the luxury to change the channel if something offensive comes on. But if that were truly the case, then NBC has consistently placed a double-standard–which is the central issue here. Had they kept Madge’s mockery of the crucifixion intact (even tho to you it illogically wasn’t a mockery), and still chose to censor Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato for sharing innocuous interdenominational religious messages on Saturday mornings, then it’s almost as if the only approved form of bigotry in the mainstream media is against Christians. Which is wrong.
Rob… if David Bisbal ever becomes a household name in the US, and pulls that trick, there would be an outcry. Kanye West did the same thing and there most certainly was an outcry… even from atheists: how the heck does an overpaid non-talent have the audacity to say his struggles are equivalent to those of Christs? What a pompous fill-in-the-blank…
Seriously now. Who cares that Madonna is tied to a crucifix? If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Don’t ask NBC to cut the part out. Don’t these people have anything better to do? Like organise a bible study group or something.
To all those people talking about having paid a large sum of money to see Madonna in concert only to be “insulted”: this was national news online and on TV long before her concert made it to the States. Surely since you read entertainment blogs like this, you must have had SOME idea of what you were buying into. Even if you didn’t… it’s Madonna… do you think you’d go to a concert and not expect something like this? Seriously?
First off I am not really sure what “Live to Tell” has to do with a crusifix but still, NBC is a wussie. OOh, we are going to lose southern and midwestern affilates, boo-hoo! Grow up! If one is not allowed to express themeselves then this is not America. NBC = Nothing But Commies.
I saw the concert live and the much talked about crucifixion isn’t a big deal. It just seems that all people hear is Madonna + crucifix = offensive. The concert is aptly called “The Confessions” tour. In between songs, she has characters come on stage and confess to a variety of topics. Her being on a cross and singing Live to Tell was actually very classy, and much less tame and controversial than when she wore the cone bra to Like a Virgin.
If you actually paid attention to the lyrics of Live to Tell, its a about a song of someone having a secret that’s she’s keeping inside of her and she’s conflicted about it. When I saw the show, the crucifixion was a visual representation of what the song is about. It’s about having a secret so big that you either feel that you’ll be cruxified for telling it, or you have so much guilt that you feel crucixified for what you’re keeping a secret.
Besides, I don’t get the point why people are so offended when they haven’t even see it. Second, if you’re offended by crucifixion imagery, there are a lot more things that take the cross and mess with it. I mean, look at the symbol for West Coast Choppers. It’s on a cross!
Honestly, this country has more to worry about than a singer on a cross or seeing Janet Jackson’s breasts. How Christian are you when you find breast more offensive than the depiction of rape, murder, drug abuse and violence? Honestly, if you’re offended by Madonna on a cross singing a song, maybe it’s time you become Amish and leave the rest of the debauchery to the forsaken who actually want to think for themselves.
see nick, i tried to warn you. madonna could crucify her little stolen malawi baby and the girls would just keep dancing away…
it truly amazes me how stupid people are. this entire “controversy” is being manufactured to raise the profile of this concert.
NBC: “How do we stir up some good old fashioned Madonna controversy PR? We need a ratings hit!”
MADGE: “Well, the Church is always an easy target. After Janet’s failed manipulation with the boobs, we should probably go for something sacriligious”
“Good. I love it. Release the news again about people being offended in… Italy was it? Romania? Well, whatever crazy catholic 3rd world it was. Then we’ll get some blogs going, then pretend we’re deciding about whether we can air it”
“yeah, go ahead and cut it. Paint me as annoyed, and disappointed and reluctant and (of course) artistic, then I’ll release my DVD about it later in the year as “UnCut and UnCensored. I come out on top as an uncompromising artist, you get to look like heroes to Middle America.”
“fabulous doing bizniss with ya Madge.”
“Likewise. Make sure to get me free lightbulbs.”
Mahsh: you, like A LOT of people especially in the US, give Madonna WAY too much credit for publicity. Adopting a Malawian baby for publicity was the most hilarious thing I heard this week. LET IT GO PEOPLE!
Yes, at one point she did do things (maybe) for publicity, but not anymore…she has way more important things to do than sit there and think of this crap! this says more about you than her in actaulity.
I must admit, I found the crucifixion image to be fascinating and on-point – it was certainly a shocking image, and an interesting metaphor for the celebrity-philanthopy connection as well. This is not the resolution I expected to this story. Shame on Madonna for bending over and exchanging freedom of expression for an NBC paycheck. Shame on NBC for further homogenizing television. Most of all, shame on those who made such noise about this. Apparently all it takes is the mention of blasphemy to distract the Jesus-Freak Machine from hypocritically salivating over Desperate Housewives (or whatever). Anyone who is even remotely curious about this controversy has at this point watched the crucifixion on YouTube a million times over. If you haven’t yet, let me do my part to make sure that you have the chancve to judge for yourself – here’s the link!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7NiNNBveTDI