Madonna Loves Gypsies Way More Than You Do
Madonna is at her happiest when she’s deliberately upsetting people – which probably explains Body of Evidence, actually.
But this time Madonna has outdone herself. This time, Madonna has managed to upset an entire swathe of eastern Europe. And it’s hard to upset eastern Europeans because, seriously, have you seen what those people eat?
Anyway, how did Madonna manage to so wildly offend the sensibilities of our European cousins? Simple, really – she went to Romania and said that she quite likes gypsies. Which is fair enough – pretending to finger yourself down the road from the Pope is OK. But gypsies? Ugh.
The best kind of fight is a fight that makes everyone look stupid and, God bless Madonna, that’s her favourite kind of fight as well. At least we assume it is, because she always seems to be in one of them.
Like when Madonna literally crucified herself during her last tour, for instance. Sure, it may have made religious leaders from around the world look stuffy and pompous but, like our dear old nan used to say, if you ever want to look like a gigantic tit then be a middle-aged millionaire in a leotard strapped to a giant glittery cross singing a piss-weak ballad about suffering to people who’ve paid £150 for a concert ticket.
And now she’s done it again. And this time it’s a doozy, because Madonna actually managed to offend the very people who’d paid to see her. So what did Madonna do to make her entire audience boo her? Did she crap on a Romanian flag? Did she sing Papa Don’t Preach while doing an offensive impersonation of a vampire? Did she besmirch the reputation of beloved Romanian gymnast Corina Ungureanu? No. No, the truth is far more shocking. In fact it will chill you to your very core. BBC News reports:
Madonna paused during her two-hour show to say: “It has been brought to my attention, that there is a lot of discrimination against Romanies and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe – it made me feel very sad.” “We don’t believe in discrimination, we believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone.” The star then received more boos when she mentioned prejudice against homosexuals and others.
It’s incredible, isn’t it? And – even though it actually causes us physical pain – despite her hectoring, schoolmarmish tone, we have to admit that that Madonna doesn’t completely come off as the worst party in this argument. Because really, if Romanians have such a problem with Romanies, they should probably think about moving to a country with a name that doesn’t directly translate to Land Of The Romanies, shouldn’t they? Although if that’s what they decide to do, they should probably steer clear of Gypsyville. And Pikeyton, for that matter.
We’re not saying it was wrong of the Romanians to boo Madonna, though – just that they were booing her for the wrong thing. If they wanted to boo her for, say, being a little old lady who looks like Iggy Pop’s grandfather in a nightmarishly revealing leotard with one of history’s worst British accents and a genuinely preposterous religious belief then, hey, we’d be 100% behind them all the way.
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>Because really, if Romanians have such a problem with Romanies, they should probably think about moving to a country with a name that doesn’t directly translate to Land Of The Romanies, shouldn’t they?
That’s fucking retarded and the rest of your drivel isn’t any better really. How did this pile-of-shit blogger crap make it to the front google news? Blech.
Agree Tom.
This is the worst article I’ve read on the front page, or in the last month for that matter.
Get a REAL story!
~Heather
Why does anyone care what this faux English-accented poser-bimbo has to say? I have this eerie feeling that she’ll still try to be “sexy” and “outrageous” onstage even in her late 60’s! Damn, doesn’t that mental picture make you want to undergo extensive electro-shock treatments in the hope that the part of your brain that carries this memory will be fried?
God I love it when Google News picks up your -news-
If only we could watch the faces as the unsuspecting read.
I love nothing more than the comments that result when some poor unsuspecting fool clicks on a Google News link to hecklerspray. LOL
The author has no idea about this subject. Crap all along copied and interpreted with poor understanding what gypsies do to Romanian’s image.
She shoould have some Gypsies move in with her
Romanians are treated as shit in rest of Europe. The whole of EE are a racist bunch including the Russians.
You’re an idiot.
up yours Gia
sorry but you guys speak about something that you dont know. please consider free viza for gypsies and you guys will have a lot of fun. speaking about madonna, we love her for her old performance and for the show performed at this age, just like you guys.
I love starting out the day with a huge belly laugh-thanks Stu, for calling a spade a spade- eff your pc language police there in Euro-land!!
Maybe she should be more informed before she makes accusations. Nobody is discriminating them, people are afraid of them. Most of them are rude, don’t go to school, are noisy, steal, attack people, beg and so on. If I see a gypsy group I usually go across the street, because you never know what they will do.
Agree.Anyone calling Romanians racist and what not,are basicly taking the side of the monsters’.It’s like they’d agree with gypsies stealing,raping,beating up,torturing,trafficking women and so on.That’s what they DO.Damn right we have REASONS to hate them(gypsies).And NO ONE outside this country,is allowed to comment on our issue here,because NO ONE outside this country knows what REALLY is like living here among these jackals.I hate those proud,ignorant,naive westerners.F**k you USA and the rest of the world that doesn’t understand this problem.You better SHUT UP instead of talking garbage about us.
Does that mean you are or you are not racist?
Now that was funny, in a disturbing kind of way. Iggy Pop’s grandfather? It just brings the tired old question of when will tired, old insecure scrags like Madonna just go away? She traded a life of comfort and privelege for a life of oddity, infamy, comfort and privelege, like she wasn’t getting enough attention. TheBrits can have her, we don’t want that hag back in the U.S.
I had no idea that gypsies were so hated in europe. This incident has brought light to something that many people had no idea existed.
The reaction of the romanian paying crowd is misunderstood. They don’t hate gipsies, they are AFRAID of gipsies although this ethnic group represents merely 2,3 percent of the romanian population. I am romanian and I have been almost raped by a gipsy in the hallway of my apartment, my boyfriend got slapped because he made a comment towards a group of gipsies who didn’t stay in line at at the grocery and most of my friends and family AVOID gipsies because most of them (i repeat most of them, not all of them)want either to steal from you, to beg for money, to assault you or even worse..In top 10 richest people in my country half of them are gipsies (making money from prostitution and begging ). My point is: is very easy to criticize and preach intollerance when you are not involved, I wonder what would Madonna do if she found herself in the middle of a gipsy village. oh My! I want all the people to be treated right, and I also want to support better education for gipsy children but as long as their parents do not want their children to follow school whnat more can we do? And is very tragic because these people have wonderful beautiful culture and traditions and there are so manny great personalities that I personally adore who have gipsy origins. I think the change should be done from among themselves, the Government cannot force the parents to put their kids to school or to forbid them to marry their daughters at 14, 15 (it would be intollerant).
Bravo.Very well put.
Actually, there are Gypsies (from Romania) in America that act just the same way. I worked at a Pizza parlor down the street from a gypsie family. They came in all the time and always gave us immense grief. The patriarch of the bunch would constantly make death threats against our manager (who laughed them off because it became routine). One time they brought their THANKSGIVING DINNER. TURKEY AND ALL to our restaurant and proceeded to set it all up on our tables!! WOW!! They got the boot, for sure. They were the most wasteful, selfish, disgusting people I’ve ever met. If they act that way in Romania, I can see why people are afraid of them there. BTW, my grandfather immigrated to the US from Romania in 1914. I wish he was still alive to ask him about all this and get the inside scoop.
If the gypsies come to town, put up your “Store Closed” signs, lock the door and save yourselves some grief.
I boo the people posting here who boo the blogger, who booed the Romanians who booed Madonna, who booed the Romanians who boo Gypsies. I don’t really know what Gypsies boo… a sedentary lifestyle maybe.
I am losing respect for news.google.com. This page filled with utter nonsense made the news somehow just because Madonna’s name was mentioned or something. Stuart Heritage seems to be ignorant, the kind that cannot find too many places on a world map and is really not able to understand and relate to cultures other than his own. The public paid money to see her show, listen to her music, see her dance, not hear other ignorant remarks from a pop icon who feels bad for some random people who happen to work with her and managed to find a good medium for their whining. Madonna showed huge disrespect for the Romanian public and the boos happened exactly for that reason. Just search Google for the origin of “Romania” and do not come with idiotic conclusions equivalent to “the Roman empire was the empire of the gypsies”. Brrrrrrrr. Learn some history, read stuff, ask, educate yourself a bit, but stop polluting the Internet, please!
Sorry I keep making comments on everyone here…but,I really have to say your comment is awesome,too.
Thank you, Gia!
As said before Romanians do not discriminate gypsies: they are afraid of them!!!
Have you ever heard of Romanians being aggressive to gypsies without reason? I don’t think so; the other way around yes. They attack you, thei rob you, they rape you.
And they are pretty much responsible for the bad image Romanians have in other countries.
evaD my thought exactly…so silly. she made billions can’t she go away and leave my ears in peace??
love the article Stu.
Romanians doing their international image the world of good in this comments section.
The Romanian government helps them, they don’t discriminate them like you say!! And that’s the reason she was booed!! Do you know that they force their children to get married at a very young age the girls have to marry the one who offers more for them (around 9-10 years old??) is that right or even legal?? We tried to fight that and they say that this is tradition and there’s nothing to do about it?? They always say they have no money but they have palaces but they are sleeping in the yard in tents!! They don’t have money but they all have at least 7 children???!! I’m not saying they are all the same but the majorities are, and the Romanians are the only ones who suffer because their ancient behavior and the things they do!!!
First off all: I’m sorry for my bad English!! And now: years ago countries like England France Italy said Romanian people are racist and we should accept roma people (roma people are not one and the same with ROMANIAS….roma people are a minority). After a few more years Romania was accepted in EU!! And this is the part when all started… when roma people went all over europe and start to do all kind of things like stealing , killing , sent their children on the streets to beg , when they rapped girls( or boys)and Romanians are blamed for all those things. The funny thing is that the governments of the countries I mentioned above, that years ago called us racists and told us to accept them, now want them out of their territory and sent them back in Romania, but that’s not the bad part! The bad part is that when we, Romanians, go in other countries to visit or to get a job, we are treated like garbage and everyone is looking at us like we are the most dangerous criminals…There are people (Romanians) who lost their jobs because what roma people did all over the world!! Does Madonna knows how it feels to go somewhere in Europe and people treat you like shit because you are Romanian?? Does she know how it feels to lose a job because of them?? Does she know how it feel to be robbed, spit, cursed abused by them every single fuck*ng day of your life?? Does she know how it feels to be afraid to walk on the streets because they are carrying knifes and swards and they are picking one you for no reason (and you have to accept because they are having clans? i believe she doesn’t so she is not in condition to talk about racism in our country! A Romanian kid has to struggle to go to school while they have guaranteed seats in top-schools and they choose not to go because it’s easier to steal, they pay no taxes, they have laws that protect them THEY ARE A MINORITY AND HAVE MORE RIGHTS IN OUR COUNTRY THAN WE HAVE…we are discriminated in our own country and you guys treat us like we are the bad ones.???? The Romanian government helps them, they don’t discriminate them like you say!! And that’s the reason she was booed!! Do you know that they force their children to get married at a very young age the girls have to marry the one who offers more for them (around 9-10 years old??) is that right or even legal?? We tried to fight that and they say that this is tradition and there’s nothing to do about it?? They always say they have no money but they have palaces but they are sleeping in the yard in tents!! They don’t have money but they all have at least 7 children???!! I’m not saying they are all the same but the majorities are, and the Romanians are the only ones who suffer because their ancient behavior and the things they do!!!
,,Because really, if Romanians have such a problem with Romanies, they should probably think about moving to a country with a name that doesn’t directly translate to Land Of The Romanies, shouldn’t they? Although if that’s what they decide to do, they should probably steer clear of Gypsyville. And Pikeyton, for that matter.” ohh so we have to move from our country because let me tell you ROMANIANS ARE THE PEOPLE inhabitant of romania ,JUST LIKE FRENCH inhabitant of France NOT ROMANIES…. Romanies are a minority!!!!! when are you people going to understand that!!! maybe they should move somewehre in AFRICA!!! NOT US THIS IS OUR COUNTRY GOD DAMN IT.
The name of Romania (Romanian: România) comes from Romanian: român which is a derivative of the Latin: Romanus (Roman).[6] The fact that Romanians call themselves a derivative of Romanus (Romanian: Român/Rumân) is mentioned as early as the 16th century by many authors, including Italian Humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia.[7][8][9][10] The oldest surviving document written in the Romanian language is a 1521 letter known as “Neac?u’s Letter from Câmpulung”.[11] This document is also notable for having the first occurrence of “Rumanian” in a Romanian written text, Wallachia being here named The Rumanian Land – ?eara Rumâneasc? (?eara from the Latin: Terra land). In the following centuries, Romanian documents use interchangeably two spelling forms: Român and Rumân.[note 1] Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late 17th century led to a process of semantic differentiation: the form “rumân”, presumably usual among lower classes, got the meaning of “bondsman”, while the form român kept an ethno-linguistic meaning.[12] After the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the form “rumân” gradually disappears and the spelling definitively stabilises to the form “român”, “românesc”.[note 2] The name “România” as common homeland of all Romanians is documented in the early 19th century.[note 3] This name has been officially in use since December 11, 1861.The largest ethnic minorities are Hungarians, who make up 6.6% of the population and Roma, or Gypsies, who make up 2.46% of the population . Is it clear for you now??
wow wow wow.. chill out!
We are romanians and they are how we call them “?igani” (other languages: zingari, tsigans, zigeuners, cigani, cikani)
THEY PRETEND to be “rromi” or how you called them in your post
“romanies”. THAT’S TOTALLY WRONG! They just want you all to think that they are like romanians… they steal you, they mocker you, they do everything possible!PLEASE RECONSIDER AND MODIFY THE NAME OF THE GYPSY THAT YOU WROTE “ROMANIES”.
YOU DON’T LIVE AMONG THEM! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT GYPSY FEAR MEANS! (everytime that you see a gypsy you have to check your pockets and hope that he’ll won’t do something to you – and there’s no exception!)
As a romasexual Homanian I find Madonna’s diatribe extremely offensive because she doesn’t know what it’s like living inside a barrel and having to sharpen a pitchfork, tine by rusty tine, every other night. Really. And the one night of the year when we are allowed to congress without our torches and pitchforks, this centenarian gymnopath has to lecture us on tolerance. Isn’t listening to her yowling evidence enough of our broad minds? It took me three years of hoarding table scraps and fashioning them into small sculptures to sell on the internet to afford that “show”. And instead of being titillated with carefully crafted acts of transgressive taboo-breaking my hard work at scrimping and sculpting was rewarded with overt hectoring. Where’s the Art in that, I ask? Where? If my barrel weren’t so far from the stadium, why I’d have rushed home for the trusty old ‘fork and torch and shown her the business end with Gusto and Dispatch (my two hounds.)
she does not know what she´s talking about, I live in eastern europe in a town with a large community of Roma people, most of them steal, their children run around with contagious diseases, they endanger our children, pollute our neighbourhood and destroy everything we try to build. they do not want to work or adapt to any rules. Try to live near them, Madonna and then talk!
I graduated from Journalism University and one of the few things i learned there is to check an information before i actually write something. Mr Ignorant Stu here maybe knows better than us poor east europeans how to do his job, and more especially, what happens in Romania.
The poor sword-wielding gipsies are soooo discriminated that they have bugdet-funded places in Universities all over the country, while we, the majority of the population have to take entrance exams and 95% of us actually pay taxes for superior education. You think the gipsies bother to come and learn something, even if it’s free for them? No, cause they are to busy fighting with the police on the streets of Craiova, stealing your wallet or raping your mother.
Dear ignorant Stu, you are one of those guys that write more than they read, aren’t ya?
Hey, Romania DOESN’T directly translate to Land Of The Romanies, actually it: 1. doesn’t actually translate into anything, 2. and of course nothing like “land of…”.
Furthermore, you are completely idiot because it is a name derived from Romans and their past empire which once has conquered this land. The language itself is similar to Italian (enough so that basic conversation can be done intuitively without translation).
So please.
Reading through all that was certainly… interesting. My favorite os all the romasexual Homanian, euclid. He has hounds.
It’s incredible, isn’t it? And – even though it actually causes us physical pain – despite her hectoring, schoolmarmish tone, we have to admit that that Madonna doesn’t completely come off as the worst party in this argument. Because really, if Romanians have such a problem with Romanies, they should probably think about moving to a country with a name that doesn’t directly translate to Land Of The Romanies, shouldn’t they? Although if that’s what they decide to do, they should probably steer clear of Gypsyville. And Pikeyton, for that matter.
Man, try to document before writing crap like this. Madonna is full of shit! They are not called Romanies – they are called Rromi. And they self-proclaimed that name after they got a political party here in Romania. They are ashamed to be called “tigani” (gypsies). They needed a “stage” name. And they came up with this name.
Again, Madonna is full of shit. She is an old bitch who doesn’t give a damn about herself. She had a shitty show (been there myself). Most of it (>50%) was playback or recorded songs with videos running. Shame on her! I really wanted to see a real “one woman show”, but was my worst 6 hours in my life (2 hours waiting for the concert to start, 1 hour of inhaling dust while listening to that lame Paul Oakenfold fucking-mix, 1 hour waiting on that shit diva to come on the stage and 2 hours of watching her videos on the left side stage fucking screen). This is what you get if you buy her tickets!
Madonna, I have three wishes: die, die, die!
People that discriminate against gypsies suck! Gypsies are f’ing awesome. When I was little I dressed up as a gypsy for Halloween twice! And I used to get my fortune told by a machine that purported to be a gypsy woman that loved quarters! Sweet. To this day, I still love that whole gypsy, bohemian fashion aesthetic. I know they would never put a curse on me, because I like them so much. Boo on the people that hate gypsies! I want them to come to the USA right now! They can teach me magic and acrobatics as well. Yay for Madonna! Yay for gypsies! Stupid Count Dracula Romanians. Gypsies rule!
Typical off this planet comment… People who learn about the world from romantic scripted TV movies. Nothing wrong about that as long as you know the world in your head is only there, that there is no real Santa, that Halloween is nice and shallow as a tradition in current incarnations. The problem is that you are making comments about the real world around us now. Huge disconnect. While I don’t hate gypsies as a group and I am bothered by the aggressive and lazy ones, I have to tell you: if they manage to cross the ocean, the last thing you will learn from or about them is magic and acrobatics. Wake up, time to grow up, see outside the comfortable bubble you live in and try some factual empathy!
I don’t knoww if you are a woman or a man, or a child. Those gypsies you are talking about might be the Spaniards or Argentinians who dance Flamenco,or Cher, but not the ones everybody is talking about in this Forum… In your imaginary world is OK to love them, as is OK to love anybody and anything, but I wish for you to get to love them in Europe these days. I really do; it woulds mean that there is hope and that one of the gypsy’s population figure might come strong enough to start educating its people and stop LIE all the time just for the sake of PRIDE. Multimillions of people can’t be all wrong when they express opinions against some maybe 1 million of Gypsies.
thank you very much KL.
Aware as I am of the seriousness and general raised temper(s) that this issue has evoked, I also realise that this is a humour blog and as such, would like to re-orient the thread in that direction by stating that:
“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT GYPSY FEAR MEANS!”
..shall be my new net signature for the rest of this month.
I do…I was frozen with it years ago when two of them were about to rape me….
Stuart Heritage-the author of this article is fucking stupid, he’s just disgusting and pretty annoying. Completely ignorant, I wonder who is letting him publish anything at all!