Madonna's controversial world tour hits Yankee Stadium

Poor Madonna.

Madonna, no stranger to controversy, has left a wide wake of it during her new world tour. The singer hits Yankee Stadium tonight.

Well, not poor Madonna. We're guessing that Madonna Louise Ciccone (Kabbalah name: Esther) is several meals away from her last welfare check.

Poor as in: Pitiable. Misunderstood. The humanitarian and activist, who uses pop singing only as a means to further a broad-based social agenda, is in the area this week, with Yankee Stadium shows tonight and Saturday (limited tickets remain for both shows). But she had a rough time of it in Europe this summer.

When she brandished fake guns during a concert in Israel - purely to make a statement about violence in the Middle East, not at all to be sensational - she was accused of bad taste.

When she bared her breast in Istanbul, and her rump in Rome - purely as a gesture of female empowerment - she caused a scandal.

When, during a video interlude, she depicted French National Front party leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika on her head - purely to make a point about Le Pen's conservative politics, not because there's anything provocative about a swastika - she was accused of being, as one critic put it, "desperate for attention."

When she stomped on an Orthodox cross at a St. Petersburg concert - to show her support for gay rights and the imprisoned punk band Pussy Riot, not to do the most inflammatory thing you could possibly do east of Poland - she got sued for 333 million rubles.

Meanwhile, there are her recent feuds with Lady Gaga (whom she accuses of ripping off "Express Yourself" for "Born This Way") and Elton John (who called her a "fairground stripper").

Madonna's World Tour 2012 is now stateside. In addition to the Yankee Stadium shows this week, she'll appear at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 12.

A nod to NOLA