A school shooting survivor has taken aim at a new Madonna music video, claiming that the way the clip tackles the topic of anti-gun violence is “fucked up”.
Last month saw the release of Madame X, the long-awaited 14th studio album from Madonna. In addition to featuring singles like ‘Medellín’ and ‘Crave’, the album has spawned a number of music videos, including the latest; ‘God Control’.
Released just last week, ‘God Control’ features a confronting, eight-minute video clip which depicts a nightclub shooting reminiscent of the 2016 incident in Orlando, Florida.
“The video you are about to see is very disturbing. It shows graphic scenes of gun violence,” Madonna writes via typewriter at the video’s beginning. “But it’s happening every day. And it has to stop.”
Despite the good intentions of the clip, and the heavy topics that it discusses, it appears to have raised the ire of a real shooting survivor, with 19-year-old Emma González hitting back at the music icon.
She should have sent out a message warning what her new video contained, ESPECIALLY to the Pulse Victims, ESPECIALLY as it was released Just After the Anniversary on June 12th.
— Emma González (@Emma4Change) June 29, 2019
If you want to support the gun violence prevention movement, donate to the places who need it, in this case the One Pulse Foundation and listen to the actual stories from actual survivors of gun violence. #GodControl
— Emma González (@Emma4Change) June 29, 2019
Taking to Twitter recently, González – who became a gun-control advocate following her survival of the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting – criticised Madonna for her clip, claiming it “fucked up”, and does not promote a proper dialogue about gun control.
“So I’ve been ruminating on this thread for the past few days, make sure I get the words right,” González began. “Madonna’s new video for her song ‘God Control’ was fucked up, it was horrible.
“She should have sent out a message warning what her new video contained, ESPECIALLY to the Pulse Victims, ESPECIALLY as it was released Just After the Anniversary on June 12th.
“This is NOT the correct way to talk about gun violence, unlike how many fans have been exclaiming — people who have been working in the GVP community know how to talk about gun violence, not most celebrities.
“If you want to support the gun violence prevention movement, donate to the places who need it, in this case the One Pulse Foundation and listen to the actual stories from actual survivors of gun violence.”
Interestingly, Madonna’s previous single, ‘I Rise’, actually contained a sample of the now-famous “We call B.S.” speech by Emma González, though the musician is yet to respond to these recent comments from the activist.
Check out the video for ‘God Control’ by Madonna:
