Pop icon Madonna has released a graphically violent video for her new single, depicting a nightclub shooting and containing a call for gun control.
The video for God Control contains scenes seemingly reminiscent of the deadly shooting in Orlando’s Pulse nightclub that left 49 people dead and 53 injured in June 2016.
In it, the legendary pop celebrity makes an unambiguous call for gun control, both in the song’s lyrics and in a written statement that emerges as the video wraps up. It reads:
“Every year over 36,000 Americans are killed in acts of gun violence and approximately 100,000 more are shot and injured. No one is safe. Gun control. Now.”
Madonna quotes civil rights activist Angela Davis:
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
In the video Madonna is shown typing the song’s lyrics:
“When they talk reforms, it makes me laugh / They pretend to help, it makes me laugh … They say that we need love / But we need more than this.”
The nightclub scenes are explicitly violent and bloody, intertwined with the artist visually imagining herself at the scene of the shooting, with the gun attack and rewinding back to her being mugged at gunpoint as she sets out for the club.
Some Youtube fans were quick to applaud the powerful new message from the singer.
Jeff Hilbert posted a comment:
“Brilliant. She no longer cares about record sales, being played on radio, or awards. What you have left is simply artistry. She's already earned the former. Now, you can tell she's doing what she wants. She's earned it. Layered, deep, and powerful.”
Abraao de Barros Soares Pereira responded:
“No matter what people say about her, this song and video deserve respect because of its message, a video of hers that is coherent to the lyrics and that is upstanding, I am so impressed, it just depicts the bitter reality.”
Crispy or smthn idk sums up: “The most impressive thing about Madonna is that she has never stopped pushing the boundaries of art and culture. Well done.”
Ramon Olivas was stunned by the sheer power of the message: “No lie, she hasn't put something out this powerful in a long time, ever since American Life. Wake Up.”
Madonna had also posted a link on Twitter to the violent video, and a twitterati response was not long in coming, with some lauding her effort and message and others claiming she was exploiting a horrible situation just to stay relevant.