Madonna has declared the coronavirus pandemic “the great equalizer” in a bizarre video from her bathtub as she quarantines. Shared with her 14.9 million Instagram followers Sunday night, the 61-year-old pop star offered her thoughts on the outbreak with somber music playing in the background in a speech that is now being met with backlash.
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“That’s the thing about COVID-19, it doesn’t care about how rich you are or how famous you are, how funny you are, how smart you are, where you live, how old you are, what amazing stories you can tell,” she began. “It’s the great equalizer, and what’s terrible about it is what’s great about it. What’s terrible about it is it’s made us all equal in many ways – and what’s wonderful about it is it’s made us all equal in many ways.”
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Madonna went on to reference the latest rendition of her 1995 track “Human Nature” as seen on her recent Madame X tour.
“Like I used to say at the end of ‘Human Nature’ every night, we are all in the same boat,” she said. “And if the ship goes down, we’re all going down together.”
With the caption “No discrimination – Covid-19! [quarantine] [COVID-19] [stay safe],” the post raised plenty of eyebrows and drew dozens of negative comments.
“Sorry my queen, love u so much, but we’re not equal,” wrote one person. “We can die from the same diseases, but the poor will suffer the most. Do not romanticize nothing of this tragedy.”
“If the ship is going down, do you really think we’re going down together while you’re in your bathtub having people working for you to be there?” asked somebody else. “I love you, my queen. But things outside your mansion are very different from what you think. Stay safe and a be a little more empathic to the less privileged ones.”
“You sure about that?” questioned somebody else. “Covid testing… the rich and famous seem to be getting tested without any issues… ahem.”
As of Monday morning, more than 349,000 people across the globe have contracted the coronavirus, with the death toll surpassing 15,000, according to a Johns Hopkins University and Medicine database. In the United States, there have been more than 35,000 confirmed cases and more than 470 deaths.
