According to TMZ, Madonna was booed during a concert. The reason? She defended gypsies. This happened in Bucharest, Romania. Here, Madonna had gypsy performers, called Roma, come on stage with her during the show. When they originally came on stage, the crowd began cheering for them. However, those cheers did not last too long. When Madonna made the decision to verbally defend the Roma, the entire mood of the audience changed. The crowd began to boo at her.
Yahoo OMG reports that Madonna brought up the issue by saying, “It has been brought to my attention … that there is a lot of discrimination against Romanies and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe. It made me feel very sad.” Madonna then proceeded to say, “We don’t believe in discrimination. We believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone… Gypsies… homosexuals… people who are different.” Although there were some people who cheered at this statement, Madonna received more boos from the audience than anything else.
Discrimination against gypsies in Romania is a widespread and serious social problem. Yahoo OMG reports that Roma are gypsies who are said to have ethnic roots in India. Up until the 19th century, slavery was a problem. One of the biggest problems is that Roma children are more likely to drop out of school and without an education or identification, they are unable to find jobs. In addition to poverty, they also face the risk of death due to racism.
Although there is still a lot of prejudice and discrimination against gypsies in Romania, there are many people who enjoy watching them perform. This is the reason that the crowd at Madonna’s concert was originally excited to see the Roma gypsies appear on stage with her.
TMZ reports that Madonna “can be heard saying the words ‘god dammit’ in frustration” on the video from the show. Aside from this, Madonna went on performing her concert the same way that she would under any other circumstances.
As for why Madonna took the initiative to defend the Roma? According to her publicist, “Madonna had been touring with a phenomenal troupe of Roma musicians who made her aware of the discrimination toward them in several countries so she felt compelled to make a brief statement” (Yahoo OMG). Madonna’s publicist also said that the singer will not make any further statements.
Will Madonna’s words actually change anything in Romania or other areas where discrimination against the gypsies exists? Yahoo OMG reports that the Soros Foundation’s Motoc, which is a group that focuses on issues related to the development of Romania’s changing society, says that it probably won’t. He said, “Madonna is a pop star. She is not an expert on interethnic relations.” There is no doubt that Madonna is one of the most influential musicians out there, but it seems that there is so much discrimination against this certain group of people that it may not really make a difference - especially when taking into consideration the type of response that she received from the audience.
