The singer’s point is that “a good man is a good man” regardless of religion, she says.
Madonna left fans scratching their heads after she recently announced to a crowd attending her MDNA Tour in Washington D.C., “For better or for worse, all right, we have a black Muslim in the White House, OK? Now that is some s—.”
The singer has since clarified the remarks in a statement provided to Rolling Stone.
“I was being ironic on stage. Yes, I know Obama is not a Muslim – though I know that plenty of people in this country think he is. And what if he were?” Madonna says.
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“The point I was making is that a good man is a good man, no matter who he prays to. I don’t care what religion Obama is – nor should anyone else in America,” she continues.
The “black Muslim” remark came at the end of a longer speech about political freedoms in which the singer singled out the work — and subsequent assassinations — of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.
“And now it is so amazing and incredible to think that we have an African American in the White House. So those fine human beings did not die for nothing,” she said.
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The tour trades heavily on imagery related to gun violence, prompting an explanation of intent from Madonna posted to her website shortly before it landed on U.S. shores, where headlines about the Aurora shootings still dominated the news.
In it, the singer said the guns in her show were meant to be taken as “metaphors.