Madonna has said that “God Control,” her chilling new video, is meant to highlight the devastation of gun violence in America and to be a call for action. The video, released Wednesday, features graphic scenes of a gunman opening fire on patrons of a nightclub, reminiscent of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, in June 2016, in which 49 people died and 53 were injured.
But two survivors say the video’s “grossly accurate” depiction of a gun massacre — in a music video meant for entertainment — is “insensitive” and “out of touch.”
They want to believe Madonna means well, but they say they can’t help but question whether she’s exploiting a national tragedy for her own artistic and commercial purposes. They also say she didn’t reach out to survivors to get their input on how the project might affect them.
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In a video statement posted by TMZ, Brandon Wolf appreciates the role that graphic images in art can play in addressing important issues affecting society. “That’s real life,” said Wolf, who has become one of most visible Pulse survivors for his advocacy for gun control and for LGBTQ youth.
“What I don’t appreciate and the questions I have center around the timing and around her not involving the Pulse community in this conversation,” added Wolf, whose best friend Christopher Leinonen died in the attack. “She didn’t acknowledge that it was Pulse that inspired (this video), and she didn’t acknowledge the 49 people who died for this artistic inspiration.”
For Patience Carter, Madonna’s latest project was too vivid a reminder of the terror she and ther survivors experienced that night.
“For someone like me who actually saw these images, who actually lived through those images, to live through them again (with this video), I feel like it was really insensitive,” Carter said in another video posted to TMZ.
“You could not help but think about the person that was actually in these incidents, that actually lost someone, that actually had to experience that bloodshed firsthand,” she added. “Think about how they feel, because … you’re actually reliving these things all over again.”
Carter was a 20-year-old college student the night of the Pulse nightclub shooting, visiting Florida from Philadelphia, she said in an interview last week with WFTV Channel 9 in Florida. She, a 21-year-old friend and the friend’s 18-year-old cousin, Akyra Murray, spent about two hours dancing at the club and were getting ready to leave when gunfire suddenly erupted.
The women were among more than a dozen people who tried to seek shelter in a bathroom stall. Murray was killed, and Carter was shot several times in the leg. “I’m reminded of my own pain every day,” Carter told WFTV. “My leg still hurts.”
In the TMZ video, Carter said that the disclaimer at the beginning of the video is too mild and fails to offer sufficient warning to gun violence survivors.
The disclaimer reads: “The story you’re about to see is very disturbing. But it’s happening everywhere and it has to stop.”
Moments later, club patrons are shown being wounded and killed in a hail of bullets. In between images of the deadly shooting, the video shows modern-day protests against guns and the National Rifle Association, and Madonna sitting at a typewriter, writing about the shooting and her horror over the violence.
“I want to draw attention through my platform as an artist to a problem in America that is out of control and is taking the lives of innocent people,” Madonna said in a statement about the video. “This crisis can end if our legislators act to change the laws that fail to protect us all.”
In an interview with People, Madonna also said she wanted the video to shock and to be difficult to watch.
“Seeing the reality and the brutality of things makes you wake up,” she says. “This is really happening. This is what it looks like. Does it make you feel bad? Good, cause then maybe you will do something about it.”
But for survivors, Carter said, seeing the video could undermine any “growth” they had achieved in overcoming the psychological or emotional trauma of their attacks.
“All the growth can crumble in one view,” she said. “If I wasn’t as strong as I was, if I didn’t have as much growth as I as do right now, I wouldn’t be able to make it through the rest of the day.”
Carter said she thinks Madonna means well: “I understand what she was trying to do, to bring awareness to the topic of gun control. But I don’t think that was the right way to do it.”
If nothing else, Carter said, the video could open with a disclaimer that offers a more direct warning to survivors that the images they will watch are intense and could be re-traumatizing.
Madonna said she wanted to honor victims with her “wake-up call” of a video. “God Control” is her third single from her recently issued 14th LP, “Madame X.”
In a clip she posted to Instagram, she said: “Gun violence disproportionately affects children, teenagers and the marginalized in our communities … Honor the victims and demand GUN CONTROL. NOW. Volunteer, stand up, donate, reach out. Wake up and insist on common-sense gun safety legislation … Innocent lives depend on it.”
This story was updated to include the statement by Brandon Wolf.
