Madonna Strikes Back at Critics Who Criticized Her Speech at the VMA Awards
Madonna was quick to take to Instagram and explain that she was asked to share an anecdote she had in her career which was associated with Aretha Franklin.
Madonna’s five-minute speech that ended by giving thanks to late singer Aretha Franklin was highly criticized by followers at MTV’s VMA awards. Now, Madonna has taken to Instagram to hit back at her critics. Details below.
At the VMA award ceremony, Madonna spoke about an audition in her monologue. It was an audition at the start of her career where she sang Franklin’s song called ‘You Make Me Feel like a Natural Woman.’ She sang this song for “two very large French record producers”, who didn’t take her singing very seriously back then. She said that who would’ve anyway taken a skinny gal’s singing seriously who begins to belt out one of the greatest soul singer’s songs. Madonna revealed that the producers didn’t call her for weeks, however, they promised to take her to Paris and make her a star. “And the rest is history”, the singer says.
"So you're probably all wondering why I'm telling you this story," she went on. "There is a connection. Because none of this would have happened, could have happened, without our Lady of Soul. She led me to where I am today, and I know she influenced so many people in this house tonight, and I want to thank you Aretha for empowering all of us. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Long live the queen."
Coming to the viewers, many of them didn’t take to the singer’s speech. They felt that the speech was self-indulgent. It was all about herself and it had nothing to do with giving a tribute to the ‘Queen of Soul’, Aretha Franklin.
Twitter Reactions
"Im sorry, I love Madonna...but her telling a 5 minute story about herself was not the right time to honor Aretha Franklin. Wow..... So shocked. #vmas"
"This ain't about Aretha at all. #VMAs "
"I hope the vmas plan to issue a public apology for allowing Madonna to disrespect Aretha Franklin's legacy like that #VMAs"
"#Madonna is demonstrating a dynamic performance of peak white womanhood. This was not an #Aretha tribute but a monologue on how another iconic Black woman is being reduced to how she helped a white woman."
Madonna hits back at critics
After all the backlash, the ‘Vogue’ singer didn’t miss the opportunity to hit back at her critics. Madonna was quick to take to Instagram and explain that she was asked to share an anecdote she had in her career which was associated with Aretha Franklin. Madonna defended herself by saying “I shared a part of my journey and thanked Aretha for inspiring me along the way. I did not intend to do a tribute to her! That would be impossible in 2 minutes with all the noise and tinsel of an award show. She added “I love Aretha! R.E.S.P.E.C.T. I Love Camilla! Congrats! I Love my dress! AND I love LOVE!! And there is nothing anyone can say or do that will change that.” She accused all her critics of having “short attention spans” and who were ‘quick to judge.”
At the VMA awards, Madonna had come on stage to also present one of the top awards of the night- video of the year to Camila Cabello for the popular song Havana. Camila bowed down to Madonna and gladly dedicated the award to the ‘Queen of Pop’.
