The internet had a momentary freak-out yesterday when, in an effort to promote upcoming album Rebel Heart, Madonna posted portrait shots of black civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Bob Marley in the style of the album cover on Instagram and Twitter. She called them her fellow “rebel hearts.â€
Umm, yeah. Realizing that the optics of a white woman appropriating black civil rights icons to promote an album might be a little … let’s say problematic, Madge quickly posted an apology on Facebook. In the post, she explained that she wasn’t saying that she was the same as King, et al., but just “acknowledging there [sic] Rebel Hearts.†She continued, “I hope one day to live up to 1 100th of what those people accomplished.â€
In all fairness, she did pull this before with the likes of Michael Jackson, Frida Kahlo, and others. However, to be accurate, she also did this with JESUS.
To her credit, she still knows how to rile us up.