Madonna has apologized for asking a wheelchair user to stand up at a concert. The pop Queen is currently touring the US, and during a show in Los Angeles, she urged her audience to take a “ride” with her before approaching one person and asking why they were sitting down. When she realized the person was wheelchair-bound, she said, “Oh, OK. Politically incorrect, sorry about that. I’m glad you’re here.”
Social media users soon censured the superstar online, with one person saying, “There are 100 reasons why someone might sit- and all of them are valid.” Others condemned Madonna’s apology and her labeling of the public gaffe as “politically incorrect.”
Nevertheless, fans were treated to a special guest. Madonna was joined on stage by fellow pop icon Kylie Minogue, and the pair performed an acoustic version of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.”
Since its launch, the new Celebration tour has endured other controversies, including a lawsuit prompted by her failure to appear on stage in New York until 10.30 in the evening. Two fans, Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden, filed a suit against the 65-year-old star last December when she turned up two hours late for her concert at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn.
The plaintiffs argued that the late start left them “stranded” in Brooklyn because of “limited public transportation.” The Barclay Center is also named in the suit, and Madonna’s representatives said they would mount a “vigorous” defense, citing technological problems as the cause.
Michigan native Madonna is no stranger to controversy and has made international headlines throughout her career. In the 1980s and 1990s, she stirred up fury with her sexually explicit and religious content. In 1989, she released a video for her hit “Like a Prayer,” in which she kissed a black saint, and in 2006, she appeared on stage in London mounted on a cross.
The star fell ill last year and was placed in a medically induced coma after contracting a bacterial infection.
