Madonna banned from Texas radio station after Women’s March speech

Among many famous names, supporting the anti-Trump protest marches on January 21, Madonna made a surprise appearance at the Washington Women’s March. Along with Scarlett Johansson, Michael Moore and many other celebrities, she pleaded for love and called upon the audience to refuse to accept “the new age of tyranny.” She also performed her songs ‘Express Yourself’ and ‘Human Nature’.

Addressing the protesters in her speech she said: "Yes, I'm angry. Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot of blowing up the White House, but I know that this won't change anything.” And she added: “We cannot fall into despair. As the poet, W.H. Auden once wrote on the eve of World War II: We must love one another or die. I choose love. Are you with me? Say this with me: We choose love. We choose love. We choose love."

After her statement earned a lot of criticism from right-wing commentators, Madonna used her Instagram account to clarify that she was “not a violent person” and that she “spoke in a metaphor” when she spoke about “blowing up the White House." She also stated, that this part of the speech was “taken wildly out of context.”

Yesterday's Rally. was an amazing and beautiful experience. I came and performed Express Yourself and thats exactly what i did. However I want to clarify some very important things. I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it's important people hear and understand my speech in it's entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context. My speech began with " I want to start a revolution of love." ♥️ I then go on to take this opportunity to encourage women and all marginalized people to not fall into despair but rather to come together and use it as a starting point for unity and to create positive change in the world. I spoke in metaphor and I shared two ways of looking at things — one was to be hopeful, and one was to feel anger and outrage, which I have personally felt. However, I know that acting out of anger doesn’t solve anything. And the only way to change things for the better is to do it with love. It was truly an honor to be part of an audience chanting “we choose love”. ????♥️????♥️????♥️????♥️???? #revoltutionoflove♥️#revolutionoflove♥️*******************************************************

Ein von Madonna (@madonna) gepostetes Foto am 22. Jan 2017 um 10:49 Uhr

Nevertheless the Texas radio station HITS 105 made a statement saying that all Madonna songs will be removed from the station's programmes and urged other stations to follow their actions.

The station told Billboard: "Banning all Madonna songs at HITS 105 is not a matter of politics, it's a matter of patriotism. It just feels wrong to us to be playing Madonna songs and paying her royalties when the artist has shown un-American sentiments. If all stations playing Madonna took their lead from us, that would send a powerful economic message to Madonna."

A Republican politician has even called for the singer to be arrested.

The Women’s March in Washington DC was only one of many marches against the political plans of America’s new president Donald Trump. The DC march, which took place the day after Trump's inauguration, led to world wide solidarity through a series of marches in the name of women’s rights. Activists believed those rights could be under threat from the actions of Trump, who has repeatedly made misogynistic comments.

Madonna was one of many celebrities to speak and perform on the Women’s March. Other famous names who were involved include Alicia Keys, who performed ‘Girl on Fire’, Janelle Monáe and Scarlett Johansson.