in the spotlight: Lacking love for Madonna

By Anna Malpas

Published: August 15, 2012 (Issue # 1722)

Late last week, Madonna gave her support forthe members ofPussy Riot ontrial byspeaking ather concert, pulling ona balaclava andrevealing thewords Pussy Riot written onher back.

Wearing just ablack bra, Madonna writhed toLike aVirgin ina tribute that seemed tofit her image perfectly, even if, as acolleague pointed out, Like aPrayer would have been even better. You have togive it toMadonna: She was offending theCatholic Church back when some ofthe members ofPussy Riot were still indiapers.

This was thekind ofbehavior likely toirritate former Komsomol workers such as Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who wrote onTwitter that every former b. as she gets older tries toread everyone lectures onmorals.Especially during international tours. Theletter b obviously stands forblyad, anextremely offensive Russian word fortart.

He then added aretort: Either take off your cross or put onyour knickers.

I doubt Madonna will lose any sleep over this. AndRogozin has always been one forplain-speaking, toput it mildly. But Im still reeling fromthe fact that this is adeputy prime minister talking inwhat is presumably his usual tone.

Thesatirical Twitter feed @KermlinRussia replied, Only afew keep onworking as blyadi inthe Russian government.

Madonna had already spoken insupport ofPussy Riot ininterviews as she visited her gym inMoscow. Andrumors were swirling that she would do something ather concert.

Ahead ofthe concert there were none ofthe usual fan discussions about why she isnt performing Into theGroove onthis tour, Vedomosti wrote. No, theintrigue was that atthis concert Madonna would perform insupport ofPussy Riot.

Whatever your views onPussy Riot, you have tohand it totheir! supporters fororganizing adefinitive stunt. Also, it is amazing how thegroups homemade balaclavas have become such astrong symbol that it was enough just forMadonna topull one on.

Kommersants typically snarky headline forits story onthe concert was Pray, Love, Earn, but thereviewer admitted he was bowled over.

It wasnt even about themusic. Madonna didnt always hit or sustain thenotes andmaybe her new material is not as good as before. All that matters is thegesture andthe show, he wrote.

But Komsomolskaya Pravda slammed Madonna forlecturing fans andworse, keeping them waiting.

After arude three-hour delay without any apology, preaching thedeath ofreligion andthe American way oflife is abit naive. You are inRussia, lady. Here we take these things seriously, thenewspaper fumed.

Madonnas stunt won praise fromsome Russian celebrities, andless fromothers.

It wasnt fornothing that I had her poster over my bed when I was 13, television host-turned-opposition-activist Ksenia Sobchak wrote onTwitter.