Music

Madonna Fans Voice Concerns After She Posts Mysterious TikTok Video

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Madonna shared a strange TikTok video before the Grammy Awards on Sunday, confusing many of her longtime fans. Some voiced concerns, while others found the clip disturbing. One day after publishing the video, Madonna, 63, took to Instagram to show off a new tattoo she got as a tribute to her late mother.

The 13-second TikTok clip showed Madonna moving closer and closer to the camera. After blowing a kiss to fans, she slowly backed away. The clip has over 12.4 million views since Sunday. It looks similar to two close-up videos she posted last week.

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The close-up clips left many fans uncomfortable. “This honestly scared me, I’m not gonna lie,” one person wrote. “This is completely unsettling,” another commented. “Great! How am I supposed to close my eyes and fall asleep now!” another wrote. “What did I just witness,” one fan wondered.

Several Madonna fans came to her defense. “Too many haters and rude people on here; she definitely doesn’t need any of your approval. She’s a beautiful woman,” one wrote. “You are still a groundbreaker, lady. Been a huge fan for years! Beautiful,” another chimed in.

While Madonna has not offered any explanation for the bizarre close-up clip, she was back on Instagram Tuesday. She showed off a new tattoo she got on her wrist that reads “Maman,” French for “mother.” The tattoo is in honor of her mother, Madonna Louise Fortin, who died in 1963 when the “Like a Virgin” singer was 5 years old, notes PEOPLE.

“I’m doing this for my mother,” Madonna said in the video, which featured the Sly and the Family Stone song “Family Affair.” In the clip, she also told her son David Banda, 16, that she couldn’t get a tattoo of her mother’s name because it “would look like I put my own damn name on my arm.” Madonna also published a picture of another tattoo, a “tree of life” geometric design. David got the same tattoo.

Madonna’s latest social media posts are tame compared to ones she published in November that caused drama between the pop icon and Instagram. She published a photo showing one of her nipples, but Instagram removed it because it violated its terms. Madonna censored the photos before publishing them again and added a caption criticizing Instagram for a double standard. She noted that men could show their chests on social media, but women could not.

“It is still astounding to me that we live in a culture that allows every inch of a woman’s body to be shown except a nipple,” Madonna wrote. “As if that is the only part of a woman’s anatomy that could be sexualized. The nipple that nourishes the baby! Can’t a man’s nipple be experienced as erotic??!!” 

“We take down content that breaks our rules whenever we find it, no matter who posts it,” a representative for Instagram’s parent company Meta told Page Six. “While we understand not everyone will always agree with where we draw the line, our rules are designed to help keep everyone of all ages safe on our apps while giving space for as much expression as possible.”