y now, most followers of popular music have heard about the latest Madonna controversy: Her anti-war video for her new single “American Life” (the lead single for her upcoming album of the same name). I haven’t seen this video in its entirety and most won’t ever see any of it, since Madonna decided to ax the already hyped clip. At first, she was merely holding back its release and was reediting with director Jonas Akerlund...but then she decided—or at least her PR team convinced her—that even edited, the video would still be viewed as anti-American and it’d be better left unreleased. The clip depicts a guerrilla-garbed Madonna and an army of fat women attacking a fashion show, while images of jets dropping bombs and explosions act as a backdrop. At the climax, Madonna throws a grenade—turned faux grenade in edited version—at a George W. bush look-alike, who in the original version picked it up and lit the cigar of a Saddam Hussein look-alike and in the edited version simply lights his own cigar. The video was shot before the U.S. war with Iraq began and most importantly—as far as the Madonna outfit is concerned—when many in the entertainment community were being forthright with their anti-war and anti-Bush views. As a result, Madonna felt secure in lampooning and criticizing the foreign policy of the Bush administration. However, after the war got underway, entertainers started to change their formerly leftist tune into an ultra-patriotic tune. After all, we have to “support our troops” even if we feel what they’re doing is wrong...a logical stance if I’ve ever heard one. It’s almost as if U.S. soldiers aren’t volunteers. I recall a line from the film Cool Hand Luke: “Sayin’ it’s your job don’t make it right, boss.” Before some all-American geek starts writing me hate mail, let me just say two things: I know the Hussein régime is a nasty one and I hope we have as few American casualties as possible. That being said, I think the U.S. and U.K. going ahead with this thing without UN support will be a disastrous move in the long run and the whole idea of spending billions of dollars on a preemptive war just screams reckless abuse of power to me. I’d say its grounds to impeach Bush if I thought he was a legitimate President to begin with. You see, that’s what I like to call “Free Speech”. It’s supposedly an important principle of Democracy and one I don’t mind indulging in even when our country is at war. Why? I’ll tell you why, Guy: I have balls. And even though Madonna had some people guessing when she grabbed her crotch in her “Express Yourself” video, it’s evident that the woman doesn’t have a pair...at least not anymore.


Below is Madonna’s explanation for aborting the “American Life” video:


“Due to the volatile state of the world and out of sensitivity and respect to the armed forces, who I support and pray for, I do not want to risk offending anyone who might misinterpret the meaning of this video.”


The kicker is the last line about her fear that the video might be misinterpreted. Misinterpreted as what? It is—or it was—an anti-war video! You don’t have the images of jets bombing shit, Arabic peasants, George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein, and then try to tell me that it all represents the need to “support and pray for ( the armed forces}.” Madonna clearly made an anti-war video and moreover, she made an anti-Bush video and before she turned chicken, I was totally saluting her for the gutsy endeavor. But it’s only gutsy if it’s done against the tide, which Madonna clearly doesn’t want to take a chance in doing. Personally, I don’t get the rationale in doing an anti-war video and then not releasing it because the war you were protesting has actually occurred. Most of the artists who protested the Vietnam War were doing it as it occurred, as U.S. soldiers were being killed—and many of those young men were drafted—and history hasn’t exactly frowned upon them. Hell, Jane Fonda even paid a friendly visit to Charlie and although she did get shit for it, her career continued to thrive...she even won an Oscar a few years later. I’ll give you that the cultural climate right now is far more conservative than it was in the sixties and seventies, but still, in the case of Madonna it wouldn’t have been too much of a risk, because most of the people who would have lambasted her for anti-Americanism already hate her. The only thing she accomplished was disappointing her fans who were looking forward to seeing her stir up some necessary controversy like she used to do back in the day. I miss the Madonna who dared to offend with burning crosses, inter-racial smooching, S & M posturing and spewing obscenities on an infamous televised appearance.


You’re not a rebel if you’re worried about offending the majority.


And you’re not an artist if you’re not a rebel.