Russia Hit Madonna With A $1 Million Fine For A Gay Rights Speech And She’s Never Paid It
Eight years ago, Madonna gave a pro-gay-rights speech in Russia, which she says pissed off the government and they tried to punish her by giving her a $1 million fine. But like those colleagues who wanted her to shut the door on her Quarantine Diaries, she ignored their asses and never paid that fine. So Madge has probably spent a lot of time during the past eight years hitting the red button on her iPhone when a Russian collection agency calls.
Back in 2013, Russia passed a federal “gay propaganda law” which criminalized the “distribution of materials that promote same-sex relationships to minors.” In other words, it’s illegal to talk about gayness publicly. 1 in 5 of the population have said they want to “eliminate” the LGBTQ community from their society, and just this month voters favored a national referendum that defined marriage exclusively as between one man and one woman.
NBC News says that on August 8, 2012, Madonna stopped in St. Petersburg for her MDNA tour. At the time, local politicians in Russia were considering the “gay propaganda law.” And in a recent Instagram post, Madge posted a video of the speech and said that she got a $1 million fine for speaking up for the gay community in Russia. Here’s some of her speech, via Out:
“We want to fight for the right to be free. To be who we are. Yes?
It’s a very strange time in the world. I’m traveling around the world and I feel it in the air. I feel that people are becoming more and more afraid of people who are different. People are becoming more and more intolerant. It’s a very scary time but we can make a difference. We can change this. We have the power and we don’t have to do it with violence, we just have to do it with love.
I like your t-shirt. let me read it out loud: At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. and who said that? Martin Luther King Jr. said that and he fought for the rights of Africans and African-American people. He fought for their right to be equal, to be treated with tolerance, love, and human dignity. Ge fought and he died for this principle. Now I’m here to say that the gay community and gay people here and all around the world have the same rights to be treated with dignity, with respect, with tolerance, with compassion, with love. are you with me? If you’re with me I want to see your pink armband. If you’re with me raise your arm and show your love and appreciation for the gay community
And this is for people using Hesus and quoting God as their defense mechanism. Jesus preached this, Mohammed preached this, Buddha preached this, Moses preached this, it’s in every holy book: love thy neighbor as thy self. Ok? So you can not use religion to treat other people badly. You can not use god’s name to treat other people badly, we all deserve love.”
She also sort of suggested she’s like the Martin Luther King Jr. of the LGBTQ community in Russia? Okay, here’s her full speech:
NBC News reached out to the Russian Embassy and U.S. Embassy in Moscow to see about that huge fine, but they did not immediately respond.
Well listen, Madonna is rich enough to pay a million dollars on command, so this is a clear “fuck you” to that homophobic government. Good for her, fighting oppressive governments! I know that if Madonna wasn’t in crutches she would have done so much more at the Black Lives Matter protests. But thankfully #NakedAthena was there to take up Madonna’s mantle. If she didn’t have a bum leg it would have been #NakedMadonna!
Pic: Wenn.com