Madonna sparks backlash for revealing her team worked for free
"Thanks to all who did support us and slept on couches and worked long hours and for free all to support Madame X"
Madonna has faced criticism for a new Instagram post in which she revealed that some of her team had worked for free on her new concert film ‘Madame X’.
The singer shared a series of photos promoting her recent V Magazine shoot, including one with photographer Steven Klein holding a knife to her throat, which has also sparked controversy.
She captioned the post that she was “proud” of her collaboration with the photographer that happened “against all odds”.
“And with very little support from non artistic people who kept pushing back and the fact that we did it with almost zero budget we were still able to make ART!” she continued. “‘Art is not dead if you have the strength to fight for what you believe in!!”
She went on to reveal that some of her team had worked for free. “Thanks to all who did support us and slept on couches and worked long hours and for free all to support Madame X,” she said.
Angry comments flooded the comment section, with people both criticising the insensitive nature of the knife photo, and her admission that some team members worked hours for free.
“Worked for free??? Why didnt you Pay them yourself? Are you short on cash or something?” one person asked.
Another wrote: “The definition of exploitation = People working for you for free in the name of ‘art’”.
“Why are people working for free and sleeping on couches when they are working for a multi millionaire?” a third asked. “That isn’t how someone who had made it supports art.”
The singer’s photoshoot with V Magazine had previously received a frosty reception after one showed her “recreating” Marilyn Monroe’s death bed.
“We were not interested in recreating the images exactly but more importantly, we wanted to explore the relationship between photographer and subject,” photographer Klein said in a press release. “Both the friendship and the artistic process, and how art can imitate life and vice versa.”
Recently the singer also revealed that the script for her upcoming biopic is nearly finished.