Music icon Madonna performs at the Verizon Center as part of the MDNA Tour. The tour, which began in May in Tel Aviv, Israel, has come under fire for itss violent imagery, fake gunplay and use of swastikas in an image collage. (Kyle Gustafson - FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) The pop icon, no stranger to controversy, caused a stir during her concert in the nation’s capital Monday night. Onstage, Madonna praised President Obama and referred to him as a “black Muslim” during her sold-out show at the Verizon Center.
The singer said she was being ironic. In a statement released by a spokeswoman Wednesday, the iconoclastic entertainer said:
“Yes, I know Obama is not a Muslim — though I know that plenty of people in this country think he is. And what if he were? The point I was making is that a good man is a good man, no matter who he prays to. I don’t care what religion Obama is — nor should anyone else in America.”
During her MDNA tour, Madonna has sparked outrage whether in Europe where she “‘superimposed a swastika on the face of a right-wing French politician in a video montage” or “displayed World War II-era footage of the Warsaw Uprising at concert in Poland; challenged a gay-pride ban in St. Petersburg, Russia; and called for the release of jailed Russian punk band Pussy Riot in Moscow,” Rolling Stone reported.
Since his first presidential run, some political foes have tried to challenge his faith and his citizenship, stating that he is secretly a Muslim and he was not born in the United States.
“First and foremost, my Christian faith gives me a perspective and security that I don’t think I would have otherwise: That I am loved. That, at the end of the day, God is in control—and my main responsibility is to love God with all of my heart, soul, and mind, and to love my neighbor as myself,” Obama told “Cathedral Age,” a magazine of the Washington National Cathedral, in an interview this summer.
View Photo Gallery: