Poor Madge. She's not having a good week, really. First, she visits Malawi, where she has donated over 3 million dollars to help set up an organisation there to help educate the severely disadvantaged children of the AIDS ravaged region. But this is eventually all but forgotten, when she also decides (having tried to fall pregnant for the last year, and I suppose now realising it's too late for another child of her own) to adopt a Malawi orphan called David.  It's not very often the Queen of shock is... well... shocked - least of all by the press' rollercoaster relationship with her, and their exploitation of public interest by turning anything she does into a press frenzy (even if that means casting a negative slant, which is hardly a new phenomenon with Madge, let's face it). But Madonna seems understandably quite stunned by the furore that has erupted over what surely must have seemed a good deed that would, if anything, go down as one of the more popular moments of her very public life. Hot tip to anyone thinking of adopting an orphan - it's probably best to make sure the child is an actual fully-fledged, 100% orphan. African fathers, who give their children up to orphanages and who speak zero English - and are so culturally vulnerable to the West that they don't even know who Madonna is ("she seemed like a nice lady," he said, "They told me she was a famous singer") - are pretty easy fodder for the press, when they arrive in the village, their cameras and recorders (and money, let's not forget) in hand. Thanks to the media attention, the poverty-stricken onion farmer now has a bit more money than he had several weeks ago, and hey, maybe he can feed the child, after all? Come to think of it - even though he completely contradicted it, last week, by slamming critics of the adoption - he's now decided (with a little help from his new friends, the gutter press) that it was all a terrible accident, that he simply mistook the word "adoption" for "babysitting", and that when Madonna assured him she would bring the child back so he could embrace his cultural heritage, she actually meant, "I'll give him back to you, once I've finished schooling him, so that he can farm onions with you". Ten bucks says that in a quiet moment we'll certainly never hear about, Madge sighed, and thought, "Fuck - maybe I should have picked one that had two dead parents."

But one of the greater shames of this adoption fiasco is that it has now completely overshadowed something much more worrying. A rich, successful woman who - when faced with the biological hands of time - decide to adopt African orphans, doesn't phase me, particularly (I'm more concerned with the Angelina Jollies who have now ditched the idea, to have children of their own). But when over a million evangelists get together and successfully rally one of the remaining non-right major networks of America into creative censorship, I personally get a little miffed. And that's exactly what has happened, while this adoption controversy has seized global attention.

NBC will air the latest Madonna tour (that has placed Madonna in the Guiness Book of Records for the most successful tour by a female artist of all time) on November 22nd - something Australian fans are particularly looking forward to, since Madonna decided to leave down under off the tour schedule (because it was too far to bring her children, and she didn't want to be away from them for too long - something ignored in the latest assessments of Madonna's mothering capabilities).

NBC originally agreed to air the concert in full, including the infamous crucifixion scene that caused (as intended) nothing but trouble, as it travelled the globe - including death threats in Russia, and the priest in Germany who was arrested for phoning bomb threats to the stadium (we're all supposed to fear the fanaticism of Islam, but those hardcore christians are all a really moderate, grounded bunch, aren't they?!). But on the weekend, the evangelists mobilised and showed just how pro-active, networked, and committed they are. Emails went out, an announcement was made on christian television, and priests gathered to put their congregations into crusade mode, releasing the appropriate (private) NBC emails and phone numbers, and naming a national day of action. The day came, and NBC was flooded with one million emails and god knows how many phone calls.

Yesterday, NBC announced that the crucifixion would be pulled.

What is most impressive (I say that in a disturbed sort of way, naturally) was their ability to use consumer politics. Not only did they bombard NBC, but so too did they ascertain the names of the forthcoming companies striking major advertising deals with the network, and they too were assaulted with boycott threats (if they continued to do business deals with a network that insisted on creative freedom and consumer choice, by showing the offending moment). The christian dollar is now a force to be reckoned with, and the christians themselves are reckoning with others, using it. When it comes to the corporate world, money talks much louder than christian "morality" - and they know this, all too well. Once, they would have achieved nothing but handing the event some free publicity, and the show would have gone ahead, as planned. Considering NBC snubbed original calls by church leaders, it shows that even NBC themselves were underesimating how effective they could be in threatening not their moral conscience, but their bank balance.

Whether you dig Madonna or not, and whether you particularly agree with using religious symbolism for artistic expression, this is a disturbing development. It sits alongside the other worrying cultural developments we have followed on this website, lately. Considering the nature of the scene in question (it really isn't a terribly big deal - you can view it at the end of the Madonna article on the Music page), that the religious right has now successfully imposed censorship upon a major (by no means right-winged) network is not a great day - not only for artistic freedom, but for the freedom of individuals to make up their own minds about the merits of the artistic expressions of others. It sets a frightening precedent, and only inflates the sense of moral authority of the religious right. Never mind that the right didn't seem to mind when the Muslim world was offended by artists referring to their God as a pig, or a violent terrorist, or drawing him in poses performing anal sex. And never mind that television is full of sex, violence, discrimination and exploitation. Just as long as that whore doesn't strike a pose in the name of Christ, explore the concept of confession, hardship and persecution, and ask for compassion and donations for AIDS orphan charities, whilst doing it.

There has been no word on the matter from Madonna, herself. But then again, she's probably a little busy with that "other" controversy. She did, however, release an official letter through her website, last month (upon hearing of the orchestration of the protests), where she offered an explanation of the offending scene;

 
"I am very grateful that my show was so well received all over the world. But there seems to be many misinterpretations about my appearance on the cross and I wanted to explain it myself once and for all.

There is a segment in my show where three of my dancers "confess" or share harrowing experiences from their childhood that they ultimately overcame. My 'confession' follows and takes place on a Crucifix that I ultimately come down from. This is not a mocking of the church. It is no different than a person wearing a Cross or 'Taking Up the Cross' as it says in the Bible. My performance is neither anti- Christian, sacrilegious or blasphemous. Rather, it is my plea to the audience to encourage mankind to help one another and to see the world as a unified whole. I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing.

 

This final sentiment now seems somewhat ironic, considering nobody will be seeing the show to pass any judgement, at all.

 

I imagine the success of the lobbying against NBC will be discussed on Wednesday's Oprah appearance (although the show will clearly focus on the adoption scandal). In the meantime, fans on Youtube have started to... well.... express themselves... 

 

 

And if you're yet to see the Oprah interview, here's a portion from the show...