Madonna Responds After Being Blasted for Grammys Face - And She Gets It Entirely Wrong
As she has often done throughout her illustrious career, Hollywood megastar Madonna garnered all sorts of headlines with her appearance at Sunday’s Grammy Awards show.
But these headlines weren’t about some bombastic performance, outlandish political grandstanding or a cryptocurrency scam.
No. Rather, these headlines were about her literal appearance at the Grammys.
When photos of Madonna from Sunday’s award festivities began circulating online, it didn’t take long for critics to call out the results of what apparently was extensive plastic surgery performed on her face.
Conservative pundit and firebrand Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire went so far as to describe Madonna’s altered appearance as that of an “alien freak.”
I’ll never understand why some women think it’s better to look like an alien freak than to just look like an older woman. There’s nothing wrong being older. We’re all headed there. Embrace your age with grace. https://t.co/3siXyyqFUh
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 6, 2023
Indeed, the images of Madonna that were circulating over the weekend were none too flattering of the 64-year-old singer, as critics and fans alike were lamenting her appearance.
Jedediah Bila, the former lone glimmer of sanity on “The View,” criticized Madonna as well, echoing sentiments made by Walsh.
“Madonna looks like an alien,” she tweeted. “Women should not strive to look like aliens. They also shouldn’t strive to be unrecognizable.”
Madonna looks like an alien. Women should not strive to look like aliens. They also shouldn’t strive to be unrecognizable. Ladies, learn to love the face you have. The most beautiful women I know grow old without injected poison. https://t.co/R4XBPe2hOI
— Jedediah Bila (@JedediahBila) February 3, 2023
On Wednesday, Madonna, apparently catching wind of these criticisms, posted a response on Instagram.
After thanking Sam Smith and Kim Petras for letting her introduce their downright unholy performance of “Unholy,” she went on a tour de force of victimhood, completely missing the point her critics were trying to make in the first place.
“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!!” Madonna wrote on Instagram.
“Once again I am caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny That permeates the world we live in,” she continued. “A world that refuses to celebrate women past the age of 45 And feels the need to punish her If she continues to be strong willed, hard-working and adventurous.”
“A world that refuses to celebrate women past the age of 45”? Perhaps the Botox in her lips was accidentally injected into her eyes, because the vast majority of criticisms regarding her appearance were trying to celebrate older women.
“There’s nothing wrong being older. We’re all headed there. Embrace your age with grace,” Walsh wrote in his criticism.
“Ladies, learn to love the face you have. The most beautiful women I know grow old without injected poison,” Bila said.
Now, this might be up for some interpretation, but nowhere in those critiques, nor in the vast majority of the serious criticisms online (there will always be trolls who just want to call a woman ugly online), was there a whiff of “ageism” or “misogyny.”
Nobody was calling Madonna too old. They were telling her to embrace her age with natural grace.
Nobody was blasting Madonna for being a woman. They were telling her that no amount of plastic can match a woman’s natural beauty.
Despite that, in the singer’s fantasy world, she is a martyr for the copious amounts of plastic surgery and Botox injections she’s apparently undergone to warp her face into an almost unrecognizable state.
Remember when Madonna didn’t try to make her face plastic?? pic.twitter.com/FjWSRV6Uh5
— Lonna Marie (@LonnaMarie726) February 7, 2023
It’s almost ironic, isn’t it? Madonna claims that she’s being targeted by ageism and misogyny. But what she’s really being criticized for is so inhumanly and grotesquely altering her own body.
And those alterations were made to appease the true ageists and misogynists out there. After all, why go for that chic plastic look if not to make yourself appear younger (ageism) and prettier (misogyny)?
So in that sense, Madonna was half-right in her response. She is, in fact, caught in “the glare of ageism and misogyny.”
The problem is that the glare she speaks of has blinded her — not her critics.
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