Responding to accusations she had made violent threats against President Donald Trump, and an unverified claim that the Secret Service is investigating her for doing so, Madonna took to her Instagram account today to clarify comments she made during her speech at yesterday’s Women’s March on Washington.
Madonna gave a particularly fiery speech during the demonstration that was well received by the crowd, but nitpicked by pundits and right wing observers who gasped at its content. Issue one was the number of times Madonna said the F-word, a privilege reserved, apparently, only for sitting presidents. However, it was the hyperbolic language Madonna used to describe her mood in the current political era that had some more vocal critics reaching for the smelling salts.
“Yes, I’m angry. Yes, I am outraged,” Madonna said near the beginning of her speech. “Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House. But I know this won’t change anything. We cannot fall into despair.”
Eagle-eyed readers might notice that Madonna used “blowing up the White House” metaphorically as an example of what not to do. The bulk of the speech was about the importance of remaining politically active, framed under what she called a “revolution of love”. (Read the it here). Even so, right wing detractors seized on her hyperbole, pretended not to understand context, and essentially accused her of making a terrorist threat.
Enter Gateway Pundit, a notoriously unreliable factory for right wing hoaxes, fake news and outright lies that was repeatedly called out for falsehoods during the election cycle. The site published a story last night claiming to have spoken to a Secret Service spokesperson who said it was investigating Madonna’s comments. Of course, the Secret Service did not actually make any public statement about the matter, and no legitimate news outlets have verified these claims. No matter, as the story was amplified when right-leaning tabloids including the Daily Mail and Breitbart, as well as gossip repository Page Six, picked it up.
So it is that Madonna today issued a statement on her Instagram profile to explain what anyone capable of reading context noted yesterday – that she did not actually want to blow up the white house. “I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it’s important people hear and understand my speech in it’s entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context,” she said.
“I spoke in metaphor and I shared two ways of looking at things — one was to be hopeful, and one was to feel anger and outrage, which I have personally felt. However, I know that acting out of anger doesn’t solve anything.”
Read the whole thing for yourself below.
