The BBC reports that Madonna furthered explained her comments about the discrimination against Gypsies while performing in Romania. Her publicist Liz Rosenberg said, “Madonna has been touring with a phenomenal troupe of Roma musicians who made her aware of the discrimination toward them in several countries so she felt compelled to make a brief statement.” The singer had been booed during a Bucharest concert on Wednesday night for saying, “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.”
Aug 28
2009
07:57 AM ET
Madonna follows up on her Gypsy comments
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I am Romanian and I wasnţs at the concert, but i gotta say there were plenty of stupid people there, cause you know, the smart ones were saving themselves for the Leonard Cohen next week…
Sadly, Madonna was booed because she said people should stop discriminating against all kinds of groups including “gypsies and homosexuals.” I don’t know what’s worse – the fact that she was booed or the fact that the media only reports that she was booed because she said “gypsies”.
Hmm, what’s the real surprise here?
1) Madonna, getting booed at a concert…for something other than singing
2) Disrespectful, shallow people who are unaware of the discrimination a subculture faces in their society still exist
3) There are still people who are surprised that a celebrity will use any possible opportunity to get on her soapbox.
4) all of the above
If you guessed 4, you’re right, and you’re awfully smart (and you probably stopped paying attention to Madonna around 1998.
you two are both idiots.
I really hate what Madonna has become and I don’t buy or listen to her music. I also don’t buy into her persona, adoptions, etc. But I really agree with the sentiments about the Gypsies. They have been the butt of discrimination all over Europe. Good and bad people come in all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, colors and types. The Romanians have it instilled in their history to treat Gypsies like scum no matter what. I applaud anyone who rises aginst this historic discrimination.
The crowd booed because Romanians were offended by the lecture on ” discrimination”. The word is completely inappropriate for the situation in Romania. Fact: in Romania almost all gypsy population refuses public schooling( there is absolutely no discrimination whatsoever about this fact,no international organization has proved such discriminating practices so far), the rule of the state( they have their own medieval “law courts”, do not pay any kind of taxes, marry their children at age 8- 11( against state laws), and engage overwhelmingly in theft, rape,violent gangs and all sort of other violent crimes.Opposite to discriminating against gypsies, most Romanians are a majority terrorized in its own country by a quite numerous minority.Other Western European countries : Italy, Spain, France, Uk had tremendous difficulties with the anti-social behaviour of Romanian gypsies and were really discriminating against ALL Romanians, irrespective of employment status, law abiding etc.So Madonna was really out of place and adressed an issue which is far more delicate and nuanced than she ever thought, a problem the entire Europe is facing now and does not have a solution for, either.
I have to agree with Razvan wholeheartedly about discrimination against “All Romanians”. I am an US citizen of Romanian origin and took a year off to travel throughout Europe (mostly western Europe) in 2007-2008. After an unfortunate incident in Italy involving a crime committed by a Romanian gipsy, I was afraid to speak Romanian to my husband because of the way the people reacted towards you when hearing the language. I am sorry to say, but, when in Italy, I tried to cover the fact that I was Romanian. This could very well be one of the reasons that Romanians are resentful against gypsies. It is also true that Romania is the last country that “discriminated” against them. They all had the same rights like everybody else, but chose not to integrate into society and live by their own rules.