Madonnas Top Five Juiciest Scandals

Madonna just wouldn't be Madonna if she didn't consistently stir up the world's inner passions. As such, she's come under fire (very bad pun intended) for brandishing fake guns during a recent performance in Scotland. In light of the tragedy in Aurora, Colo., her timing couldn't be worse. Not one for compromising her art, the "Human Nature" singer is notorious for standing her ground with regard to the images she presents to the world. In fact, one could say that controversy is a significant part of her overall brand. Judge for yourself

It all began so "innocently"

The music industry quickly figured out what kind of artist it had on its hands once "Like a Virgin" hit the streets. The song featured the cooing songstress piling on tons of naughty innuendos. In 1984, sexually brazen young women still weren't widely accepted by the public. In short, mothers of young girls everywhere cringed when this song was released. Putting the icing on the cake (bad pun intended), the twenty-something chanteuse put on a sexy wedding dress, climbed atop a giant cake and gyrated her way through a live performance at MTV's first ever Video Music Awards.

The "Sex" Book

To celebrate "Erotica", her fifth studio album, she decided to present a coffee table book deftly titled "Sex". The hardback publication came this close to being lumped into the hard-core pornography category (although some would disagree). Big Daddy Kane, Vanilla Ice and Naomi Campbell (amongst others) are featured in the book in some pretty provocative poses. And even though people already associated the Material Girl with all sorts of debauchery, mainstream America still wasn't quite ready for the brazen documentation of what it believed was Madonna's colorful sex life. This was perhaps ! one of t he few coffee table books that never found its way to the coffee table.

Sex + Religion = $$$

Her fourth studio album was also rife with controversy. In 1989 Madonna gave us "Like a Prayer." This time, the dark-haired diva deftly combined sexuality and religion in a visual soup that many viewers found hard to swallow. And although the underlying sentiment wasn't as seedy as originally believed, it was difficult for some to justify the image of burning crosses and sex with a saint. But she held her ground and the video went down in pop culture history as an example for future performers like Lady Gaga to one day emulate.

Madonna and Hitler?

Most people wouldn't associate these two names. But in July 2012, when Madonna included a video montage depicting French political leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead during her concert in Tel Aviv, she started yet another media brush fire. The Material Mom later repeated the performance in Paris and is potentially facing a lawsuit for "publicly insulting" a political figure.

What does it feel like for a girl?

Madge attempted to answer this question in 2001 with the release of her music video for "What It Feels Like for a Girl" from her "Music" album. Ever eager to address women's social issues, the singer's message was ultimately buried beneath themes of violence, recklessness, and abuse. The video (directed by Guy Ritchie) showed a hip-looking Madonna stealing, setting fires and being a general bad***. Nonetheless, she got into hot water for the brash images in her stylish noir approach (and perhaps for casting a sweet little old lady to go along for the ride.)

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