Madonna says artists need to “disturb the status quo” even though cancel culture has made conversations more challenging.
“The way people think about the pandemic, for instance, that the vaccination is the only answer or the polarization of thinking you’re either on this side or the other. There’s no debate, there’s no discussion,” said the 63-year-old pop icon, in an interview with V magazine. "That’s something I want to disturb. I want to disturb the fact that we’re not encouraged to discuss it.”
Madonna added: “The censoring that’s going on in the world right now, that’s pretty frightening. No one’s allowed to speak their mind right now. No one’s allowed to say what they really think about things for fear of being canceled.
“The thing is the quieter you get, the more fearful you get, the more dangerous anything is. We’re giving it power by shutting the f**k up completely.”
Madonna has previously come under fire for sharing COVID-19 misinformation on social media. In July 2020, she posted a clip for her 15.4 million Instagram followers showing Dr. Stella Immanuel insisting hydroxychloroquine is a cure for the virus and called her “my hero.”
She also falsely claimed that a COVID-19 vaccine has been available for months but is being suppressed by people who stand to profit from a long lockdown. “They would rather let fear control them and let the rich get richer and the poor and sick get sicker,” Madonna wrote.
A few months earlier, Madonna described COVID-19 as “the great equalizer.” She later claimed to be immune from the virus because she tested positive for antibodies. “I'm just going to go on a long drive in a car, roll down the windows and I'm going to breathe in the Covid-19 air," she wrote at the time.