Madonna jokes about ‘swelling from surgery’ after facing Grammys backlash
'Look how cute I am now that swelling from surgery has gone down,' she quipped
By Nick Reilly
Madonna has poked fun at herself after facing criticism for the way she looked at the Grammy Awards earlier this month.
The pop icon’s appearance was lambasted online after she introduced Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ ‘Unholy’ performance at the Los Angeles ceremony, with many criticising her fuller face and claiming she was ‘unrecognisable’.
Sharing a fresh photo of herself, the singer has now joked that the “swelling from surgery” has gone down.
“Look how cute I am now that swelling from surgery has gone down,” she quipped. The photo in question saw her posing in a baseball cap and a casual sports jacket.
It comes after the Queen of Pop addressed the criticism earlier this month and described it as “ageism and misogyny”.
“Instead of focusing on what I said in my speech which was about giving thanks for the fearlessness of artists like Sam and Kim, many people chose to only talk about close-up photos of me taken with a long lens camera by a press photographer that would distort anyone’s face,” she said.
“Once again I am caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny that permeates the world we live in. A world that refuses to celebrate women pass [sic] the age of 45 and feels the need to punish her if she continues to be strong-willed, hard-working, and adventurous.”
She added that she had been “degraded by the media since the beginning of my career but I understand that this is all a test and I am happy to do the trailblazing so that all the women behind me can have an easier time in the years to come”.
Madonna’s attendance at the Grammys came as she gears up for a major live comeback that will take her to 35 cities around the world later this year. She has sold out six nights at The O2 Arena in London.