Madonna Sparks Controversy in Madame X's 'I'll Be Islam If It's Hated'

Published June 18th, 2019 - 12:30 GMT
(Al Bawaba News)
(Al Bawaba News)

Madonna again sparks controversy in the Middle East over one of her latest songs lyrics in which she addresses Islam and Israel as minorities facing persecution.

{"preview_thumbnail":"https://cdn.flowplayer.com/6684a05f-6468-4ecd-87d5-a748773282a3/i/v-i-7…","video_id":"77801cba-2c4c-406a-92fd-24b5631ae73c","player_id":"8ca46225-42a2-4245-9c20-7850ae937431","provider":"flowplayer","video":"Why Was The 'Pharaoh of Cairo' Against Morsi?"}

In her song called “Killers Who Are Partying”, released earlier as part of her latest album, Madame X, Madonna had surprised her fans with lyrics that read: "I’ll be Islam if Islam is hated,” before adding: “I’ll be Israel if they’re incarcerated.”

It did not stop there. Madonna goes on to address various social groups and ethnicities.

“I’ll be Native Indian if the Indian has been taken. I’ll be a woman if she’s raped and her heart is breaking. I will be gay if the gay is burned. I'll be Africa if Africa is shut down. I will be poor if the poor are humiliated. And I'll be a child if the children are exploited.”

The song has surprised lots of the Queen of Pop’s fans who split in opinions guessing Madonna’s aim behind the song.

Some speculated addressing Islam came in a bid to highlight the rising Islamophobia in the West.

Others criticized Madonna’s choice of words accusing the 61-year-old singer of “pulling the white saviourhood attitude” when talking about minorities.

This is not Madonna’s first time to raise controversy in the Middle East and on Islam-related matters.

The Queen of Pop, who has converted to Judaism from Christianity, has earlier confirmed working on building schools in Muslim-majority countries where students can “study the Quran” in 2013, leading some people to speculate a new interest of the singer in Islam and Muslims.

She had also appeared wearing niqab on several occasions. The latest was in 2014 when she posted a picture on Instagram saying: “It’s that kind of a day!”.