Madonna receives “motion of censure” from Brazilian politicians

Madonna's concert on Copacabana beach gathered an estimated 1.6 million spectators. Photo: Adriano Vizoni/Folhapress

The House Social Security and Family Committee approved a motion of censure against pop stars Madonna, Anitta, and Pablo Vittar for their participation in a large concert held at Copacabana Beach on May 4.

Madonna’s free concert in Rio was the last of The Celebration Tour, the 12th tour of her career. The show was sponsored by Itaú, Brazil’s largest private bank, and heavily advertised. It also aired on network TV.

Brazilian singers Anitta and Pablo Vittar were invited on stage. During Madonna’s 1990 hit ‘Vogue,’ Anitta held up placards rating the performance of the dancers. This role was performed by different people during the tour, such as Salma Hayek during Madonna’s concert in Mexico City.

Pablo Vittar danced with Madonna to her 2000 hit ‘Music,’ while both wore yellow shirts similar to those used by Brazil’s national football team.

Madonna’s concert in Rio became a target for the far-right’s endless cultural war, especially on social media. Far-right lawmakers argued in their motion that the concert “vilified (…) the faith of the majority of the Brazilian population” and had a “strong erotic tone.”

This is not the first chapter of the Brazilian far-right’s opposition to the pop megastar. Magazine Piauí showed that the far-right Jair Bolsonaro administration removed a question containing Madonna’s lyrics to ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ (1986) from the 2019 edition of Brazil’s national university entrance exam Enem.

The motion of censure was approved by the committee on Wednesday without a formal vote. Left-wing Congresswoman Sâmia Bomfim, however, expressed her disagreement. She said that the concert was broadcast after 11 PM on a Saturday night and thus “if someone does not want to see that content, they can just change the channel.”

Congressman Allan Garcês said that Governor Cláudio Castro and Mayor Eduardo Paes should also be punished for lending the support of the state and city governments to the concert. Following a suggestion by Ms. Bomfim, he proposed that they should be included in the motion, to which the author, Congresswoman Chris Tonietto, agreed.