Madonna made headlines at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards for her appearance, which sparked online criticism and speculation of plastic surgery.
In response, the 64-year old pop icon took to Instagram to address the rumors and shed light on the issue of ageism and misogyny in the entertainment industry.
But there’s just one problem.
People weren’t criticizing her because of her age or sex.
People were criticizing the unnatural looking plastic surgery that appears like an attempt to look 20 again… at the age of 64.
See for yourself:
Sorry Madonna, the camera didnt make you ugly. You did.
— 🇺🇲🥓Patriotic Bacon🇺🇲🥓 (@Sassychickie) February 8, 2023
Madonna is 64. Bonnie is 73. One steeped herself in hedonism and Hollywood weirdness. One did not. Judge for yourself. pic.twitter.com/19WFMd4jZs
— Sour Patch Lyds 🐊 (@sourpatchlyds) February 7, 2023
Susanna Hoffs is the same age as Madonna pic.twitter.com/3PwfS1ycO6
— raheel.ch (@raheeln) February 6, 2023
Madonna blaming "ageism" for people laughing at her warped appearance is hysterical. She spent more on plastic surgery than some people probably make in a lifetime, and it came out badly, and now she's salty.
— Styxhexenhammer666 (@Styx666Official) February 8, 2023
As you can see, the backlash has nothing to do with sex or age.
People on social media are pointing out plehttps://twitter.com/LayahHeilpern/status/1622612139470098438nty of beautiful women who are OLDER than Madonna.
It has nothing to do with her age and sex… and everything to do with how she appears to be presenting herself.
Take a look at her angry response!
The world is threatened by my power and my stamina. My intelligence and my will to survive.
But they will never break me
this is all the test. pic.twitter.com/XvcaaG0Rrs— Madonna (@Madonna) February 7, 2023
Here’s how the Daily Wire covered Madonna’s response:
Madonna responded Tuesday to fans and critics who were surprised by her appearance at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards last weekend.
Photos of the 64-year-old pop star quickly went viral as social media users said Madonna looked “unrecognizable” at the show. They speculated that she had extensive plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures, though none of those rumors have been confirmed.
“Madonna looks good for her age… if her age is 2,700 year old vhttps://twitter.com/Madonna/status/1623101441857712130
ampire who eats babies and small animals alive,” comedian Tim Young wrote in a popular tweet.
Now the “Like a Prayer” singer has issued a response to all the questions in a lengthy Instagram post.
“Instead of focusing on what I said in my speech which was about giving thanks for the fearlessness of artists like Sam and Kim — many people chose to only talk about close-up photos of me taken with a long lens camera By a press photographer that would distort anyone’s face!!” she began, referencing how she introduced singers Sam Smith and Kim Petras preceding their controversial, Satanic-themed performance of their song “Unholy.”
“Once again I am caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny that permeates the world we live in. A world that refuses to celebrate women pass [sic] the age of 45 And feels the need to punish her If she continues to be strong-willed, hard-working, and adventurous,” Madonna went on.
The Grammy’s this year were filled with controversy.
But people are still talking about Madonna’s look.
In fact, thousands of people took to social media to ask the question:
Is the pop singer suffering from mental illness?
No one is threatened by Madonna.
This sounds like paranoia & a false sense of grandeur – both can be symptoms of severe mental illness. https://t.co/64YCXMYVxW
— Caroline (@carolinecwilder) February 8, 2023
Mental illness #Madonna pic.twitter.com/tNrclzorvV
— Richard B. (@COOLLANEHERO) February 7, 2023
https://twitter.com/Jack6010/status/1622644806001496064
I can’t stand anything about Hollywood and I don’t watch television, but I have to ask, WTF happened to Madonna’s butt ugly ass face.. that fn alien is not the same person, this has to be mental illness, your thoughts???
— A Glockwork Orange (@GlockworkA) February 7, 2023
So while much of America is shocked by Madonna’s face, what does the elite have to say?
Well, the New York Times is PRAISING Madonna for her look.
According to the latest NYT op-ed, Madonna was ‘brilliant’:
Beyond the question of what she’d had done, however, lay the more interesting question of why she had done it. Did Madonna get sucked so deep into the vortex of beauty culture that she came out the other side? Had the pressure to appear younger somehow made her think she ought to look like some kind of excessively contoured baby?
Perhaps so, but I’d like to think that our era’s greatest chameleon, a woman who has always been intentional about her reinvention, was doing something slyer, more subversive, by serving us both a new — if not necessarily improved — face and a side of critique about the work of beauty, the inevitability of aging, and the impossible bind in which older female celebrities find themselves.
[…]
Madonna has always had a complicated relationship to that approach. She has reinvented herself, over and over again, from her arrival on the New York City club scene in thrifted bustiers, fingerless lace gloves and crucifixes, to her ascension to Hollywood royalty in her Marilyn Monroe “Material Girl” look. There was androgynous Madonna, dominatrix Madonna, hippie kabbalah Madonna, designer-chic Madonna, retro-disco Madonna and Madonna as Madge, cosplaying landed gentry while she raised her family in the English countryside. And of course no outfit could be more memorable than the birthday suit she wore in Sex, the book-length photography project she undertook with Steven Meisel.
So what do you think?
Do you agree with the above columnist from the New York Times?
Is Madonna’s new look brilliant?
Why or why not?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!