99 Problems But Madonna Ain’t One

Amanda Bazil/ Staff Writer

Narcissist (n): A person who has an excessive interest in or admiration of themselves.

Its synonyms?

Egoist. Egocentric. Egomaniac. And after that terribly long excuse of a tribute at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna.

Or so I thought.

This recent controversy is as subjective as it is complicated, let me explain.

Some claim that her embarrassing actions could be owed to racism and nothing more, but I’m not playing that card and letting it die there.

Madonna’s tribute was nothing more than a long, drawn-out, self-centered anecdote, but the legendary “Queen of Pop” claims that “I did not intend to do a tribute for her!”

If that’s so, then I’ve got a question for you M: when MTV Executive Amy Doyle choose you, why take six minutes to remind the world of your “how-I-got-famous” story (as if we can’t google it) in front of a backdrop of Franklin while wearing North African garments?

As one of the legends in the game, shouldn’t it be a knack for you to feel whether the audience is receiving you or not?

I mean, your speech nearly zapped everyone’s ability to clap once you finished!

We obviously get that your words weren’t tailored to fit tribute standards, but in making a connection between yourself and someone else, you do not have to reinstate your entire resume in the process.

Your performer instincts should have been tingling after two minutes into your tale, signaling for you to wrap things up.

Both the audience in attendance, as well as the ones watching at home, felt like you were going for a more endearing and heartfelt eulogy, so forgive us when you failed our expectations and decided to draw a clearer connection that solely focused on you.

Now you get why I’m calling her selfish, and I think the shoe rightfully fits.

Even if Madonna’s aim was to draw a connection from one Queen to another, it should have been more tastefully done, point-blank-period.

But despite my reasoning, according to an article on Billboard, Franklin’s family didn’t mind the tribute at all.

In fact, the late star’s nephew Tim Franklin said that the family was not offended by the speech, and believed that Aretha wouldn’t have been either.

Well, I’ll be damned.

Now, this brings me back to the beginning. If Franklin’s family, who’s been more affected by the loss of their beloved than any fan can fathom, and therefore should be the most outrage after witnessing Madonna’s tribute wasn’t bothered by it, should we be?

While we all claimed Madonna took too much time to share pointless words, her family was just grateful and even knew Aretha would’ve been too.

So was Madonna really wrong? Is she another racist? Was she just being your typical narcissistic high-status celeb? Has she hopped on the kooky-wagon with Kanye and Trump and is just messing with our minds?

In all honesty, at the end of the day, this situation has minimal if not zero effect over all of our lives.

I’m willing to bet more than half of you forgot about the incident until I reminded you again. You’re welcome.

Folks, if Franklin’s nephew uttered those words in order to clear the air so that they can continue grieving in peace with no drama involved, I say we do the same thing.

Staying on the matter is petty. Life goes on.

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

Photo retrieved from Flickr. 

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