Madonna strips for Hurricane Sandy relief: good deed or looking for attention?

Madonna

These are photos of Madonna during her show at Madison Square Garden in NYC last night, and things got even a little more risqué than usual. This time though, it was for a good cause because Madonna was photographed visiting the Queens beach community of Rockaways (which was utterly devastated by Hurricane Sandy) over the weekend, and she decided to do something to raise money for relief. Yet instead of merely asking her fans to donate (which probably would have been more effective), Madge decided to dance for dollars by performing a little “striptease” to “Like a Virgin.” Sadly, I think this was less about charity than Madonna showing off her butt cheeks, which she always does at any given opportunity already. Here are the details from Us Weekly:

Madonna

Behold the power of Madonna.

Performing at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Nov. 12, the “Give Me All Your Luvin'” singer asked fans to give her something else — cold hard cash.

But the money wasn’t for her. It was for the victims of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and New York, where the Material Girl had spent some time earlier in the week.

“I went down to Rockaway Beach yesterday with my children, and we saw what was going on there, we saw the destruction,” the 54-year-old mother of four said. “It was really sad, but we also saw amazing acts of humanity. People sharing with other people, people working hard, cleaning houses, handing out food, blankets, giving love.”

The superstar then announced that she’d be helping in her own way — by stripping. Taking off her top to reveal the words “No Fear” written on her back, she encouraged the audience to throw money at the stage as she performed a slowed-down version of “Like a Virgin.”

“If you are going to look at the crack of my a–, you better raise some cash!” she yelled at her adoring fans, who responded by showering her with bills.

[From Us Weekly]

So was this a good thing? This is different than Lady Gaga handing over $1 mill of her own money to the cause. It’s also lazier than Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake handing out knapsacks of supplies even though they probably did it to improve their reputations after the silly apology for the homeless “joke” video didn’t work. Here, I’m thinking that Madge could have merely made an announcement to the entire arena that there would be places to donate money by the exit doors, and her fans would have probably donated a lot of money anyway. Instead, she decided to show her booty while people threw money onstage. Mind you, only the first several rows were probably able to toss the cash to her, and the rest of the audience just sat and cheered. So I doubt she raised much money at all with her little striptease, but it probably made her feel like a better person.

Madonna

Madonna

Photos courtesy of WENN

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

86 Responses to “Madonna strips for Hurricane Sandy relief: good deed or looking for attention?”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. QQ says:

    Is Madonna so Im gonna vote “Attention” unequivocally

  2. pamspam says:

    Put it away, love.

  3. lucy2 says:

    Much like Gaga’s it’s all about her, but in the end, any help is help.

  4. bettyrose says:

    How does one disaster help another?

  5. roxy750 says:

    What in the sam hell???

  6. Mourning the Death of Music says:

    It was an absolute attention seeking gimmick.

    • emmie_a says:

      Totally. Just like her pulling a gun when she was in Colorado. And all of her nip-slips. It’s almost laughable at how pathetic she has become. Grow up already.

      • V4Real says:

        Totally agree. This woman will use any excuse to get undressed. She is desperately seeking attention and I believe she wants us to applaude her for how she looks at the age of 50+ by showing her body. We’ve seen it, we’re over it, we are no longer impressed, put some clothes on grandma.

        I appreciate her effort in raising money for the aftermath of Sandy but this is onc cause where it was inappropriate to solicit funds in that manner. This has just become the Madonna freak show.

      • Heather says:

        She had the gun in San Jose too. I think it was part of all of her shows.

  7. keats says:

    ‘Donate money or else I strip!’ would have been way more effective, girl.

  8. Heebeegeebee says:

    She is just creepy now.

  9. Eleonor says:

    Body revolution!!!!
    Because writing a HUGE check would be too easy.

  10. Anastacia Beaverhouzen says:

    narcissism is indeed crippling,thanks for the memo madge <3

  11. blonde on the dock says:

    Whatever! Every little bit helps.

  12. Gabby says:

    She could have donated the proceeds from her show like some stars. Why would anyone pay to see her ass – been there done that. She’s just gotten nasty in her old age.

    • bettyrose says:

      I’ve ranted about this on Demi Moore threads but why cant these women appreciate the power they have as older, richer, and more sophisticated versions of their younger selves? A strong dignified older woman can be very sexy.

  13. Dorothy says:

    She shows it all time to anyone that will look. How is this different? Desperate , need for attention. Pathetic.

  14. Nev says:

    We are dictating HOW people should help now? If she didn’t do anything like alot of HUGE stars like herself she would’ve been called out on that too.

  15. Chatcat says:

    Madonna is a technical narcissist…she does nothing if it doesn’t benefit her directly.

  16. Julie says:

    I know a lot of people hate her but she looks good. I hope my body looks that good when I’m her age.

    • sophia says:

      +1 i don’t know why women are tearing each others apart..her body looks great..if i looked like that when i’m 54 i would one happy lady…

      • Jayna says:

        Her body looks amazing. I went and saw this concert, and unless you’re there to really see it and experience it, you won’t get how gorgeous the concert is. And the whole showing your rear and bra is part of that slowed-down part. I loved that whole section.

        The woman had more energy on stage than I could believe, and she does it in the heat. I don’t know how she does it.

        But I’m always in the Glenn Close school of thought. She’s never missed a tour. She said there will never ever be another Madonna. So true. Glenn Close is on her third show of this tour at Madison Square Garden that night.

    • Really? says:

      You know what? I’ll give her props for the great bod, but that freaking majorette outfit? NEVER. It’s not even remotely sexy, so an ageing (albeit gracefully) woman who is already “remotely” sexy who puts on something like that, it only ends up to exponentially decrease the sex affect.

      It’s science and math, not boob rays and pom poms Madge. Hang that sh!t up.

      Get in the studio and think about where you really are in your life right now. Either that, or dial down on your HRT, FFS, who the hell wants to see their grandma touching herself in public??? I’ve seen crazy people doing that and there’s really no difference.

      Damn! I’ve never liked it, even when MJ did it with that red pleather coat.

      Rant over. Out.

      • Jayna says:

        I have to say as odd as it looks in those photos to be in the majorette outfit at her age, and I hated the photos and the outfit, believe me, but in concert live, the magnitude of that performance on stage is really unbelievable. She has drummers suspended from the ceiling, drummers on the stage, majorette dancers. It really is spectacular and her outfit fits in with the whole theme.

    • Lisa says:

      She looks great, but her personality has always sucked.

    • Rio says:

      Ugh, I hope I DON’T. I’m sorry, but I just cannot find anything attractive about a bone-thin, sinewy gristly person– and I think Angelina Jolie looks hideous as well, so any cries of “ageism” falls on these deaf ears.

      Being able to show the individual striations of your biceps muscles does not make you beautiful.

      My 60+ mother underwent a full double mastectomy, lost her thyroid, her uterus, her gallbladder, her hair– and she kept on charging. She’s “fat”– so what? She’s “bald”– so what? She’s “old”– so what? She’s alive. She has never pushed her age, her weight, her sexuality, her illnesses, in anyone’s faces. She marched for civil rights in the 1960s and does to this day. A breast cancer survivor, she hates how much money is being diverted to breast cancer “research”.

      And she’s beautiful.

  17. erika says:

    why? i used to worship madonna, but she’s pathetic.

    so true…if i were at a concert and the performer said “hey, come on, you had how many beers tonight? drop a few bucks on the way out the door, for me, for the victims, give some heart” i would have gladly dropped down $20…(I already donated online….and i’m unemployed but it’s karma….)

    all of this ‘look at me bum! look! look! you cheecky bastards! you’re looking at me bum!” is pathetic.

  18. Jaded says:

    Madge is notoriously penny-pinching, she’d never part with her own money.

    Got a news flash for you Madonna, CHARITY STARTS AT HOME, not by flashing your bits for others to cough up cash. Cheap cow….

  19. Mara says:

    Trashy old lady .

  20. CTgirl says:

    Madonna is hasn’t been relevant in a decade. There is nothing more laughable than an aging pop star who charges $100+ per ticket telling the audience, mostly made up of average people, to give, give, give.

  21. Jules says:

    Who does this serve?

  22. Lisa says:

    Money is money, but this is one of the things that keeps me from really like Madonna: she’s too self-serving. Everything comes back to adulation for her. She could have just donated a percentage of her ticket sales.

  23. Grace says:

    Madonna reminds me of Maw Maw on Raising Hope. She is forever trying to terrorize people with her scary-looking body.

  24. Heather says:

    I saw her last month in San Jose, she shows off her butt cheeks regardless. It’s money for the victims, so ok in my book.

  25. Beep says:

    WHAT!?!?! MADONNA IS GETTING NAKED FOR ATTENTION??????

    oh, it must be Tuesday.

  26. Katie says:

    Everything she does lately reeks of desperation!

  27. Jayna says:

    The concert is absolutely amazing.

    But spare me, Madonna. You are filthy rich. You’re worth half a billion dollars. You are slated to have the highest grossing tour this year and in proceeds alone from what you sell out at the shows, like T-shirts, albums, on and on, they are estimating you will make maybe 70 million on that alone for this year’s tour. You will be making hundreds of millions of dollars this year. Not that you don’t deserve it. Maybe you already gave, I dont know. I hope so, but it should be a huge amount as New York is your home.

    Give the proceeds of the NY show that night to a relief fund, which is a massive take per show. Don’t tell your audience, who paid a fortune to see you and have probably already donated to Red Cross, to toss dollars. Tell them you’re donating all the proceeds of that show to Red Cross.

    Big fat fail, Madonna.

    • Jaded says:

      Absolutely right – Carrie Underwood donated the proceeds of her entire N.J. concert to the hurricane victims, Madonna makes wayyyy more than she does but can’t seem to part with any of it, only exhort others with barely enough money to pay for a ticket to donate. Cheap cow.

    • LittleDeadGirl says:

      Exactly. If she had stripped but donated the proceeds from the show I’d have said money is money and good on her but I’m really tired of rich celebrities also asking others for money for causes. Donate your own money.

  28. vic says:

    The thrill is gone. For about 20 years now.

  29. Shitler says:

    So is she comfirming that she’s a fairground stripper?

    • Minty says:

      LOL! Yes. Elton wasn’t exaggerating. She’ll strip for anybody. Money isn’t even required – just your attention.

      It’s another one of her famewhoring PR stunts. Madonna pretends to be charitable as long as there are cameras around to record it. Same with Justin T. and Kim K. Anyone remember Kim’s photo op feeding the homeless last holiday season?

      If Madonna had any true sincerity about helping others (as opposed to helping herself), she would have quietly donated a large check. Instead, she asks her fans to contribute when she’s the one with the huge bank account. Of course. There’s nothing selfish that a greedy narcissist won’t do.

  30. skuddles says:

    She has turned into such a desperate attention seeker, it’s painful to witness. She’s practically begging people to validate her raging need to be perceived as young and sexy forever. No aging with grace for Madge. I was never much of a fan of her music but I used to respect her for being a smart, tough woman – someone who refused to be defined by conventional gender perceptions. Now I just cringe in embarrassment for her when I hear stories like this. She’s like a menopausal Courtney Stodden.

  31. KellyinSeattle says:

    Her poor daughter….she’s already so embarrassed.

  32. e.non says:

    i haven’t seen any reports of what she’s actually done for the people whose lives have been upended by sandy. big deal, she went out with one of her pals — no makeup! did she provide a truck with supplies; did she help hand out blankets/food; did she write a big-ass check?

    no, but she did sign a letter with a bunch of other celebrities; and turned her ass to the crowd.

    gawd, she’s turned into such an embarrassment and desperate for relevance.

  33. EscapedConvent says:

    I don’t want to be too bitchy about this latest Madonna striptease masquerading as “helping a good cause”, but I can’t help it. This one really disgusts me. I read that she got $3,000 thrown at her when she pulled her pants down for Hurricane Sandy. Madonna spends more than that on bottled water. Is there some reason she couldn’t have, as others have suggested here, donated the proceeds from this concert to the cause? Or just given some of her own money? I think the reason is that she is going to pull her pants down anyway, so why not attach it to the relief effort, & try to look humanitarian? So attention-starved, so self-serving, so tedious. She just doesn’t seem to do anything that doesn’t make her the center of attention.

  34. Bernice says:

    She has a fabulous body she has worked hard for, she’s over 50 and has the energy to pu on her shoes and she has 4 kids. For all these reasons I really admire her.

    She Los is getting into the desperate for attention areas with her antis, ” dating” someone young enough to be her son and pulls ridiculous performance stunt like her body flashing, gun waving and ” provocative” political statement.

    Although I appreciate the good points I mentioned, I am way, way, way over hear. Dignity, she might look it up in the dictionary….. So many try-hards, it’s embarrassing for everyone…….

  35. paranormalgirl says:

    Makes me wish I wasn’t a hurricane “victim” (tree fell on our house and destroyed the roof and we are displaced at the moment – thank goodness for my office and my brother-in-law and his wife’s currently empty home in Brooklyn!)

  36. Stacia says:

    Why did the phrase “old pop-tart” come to mind when I saw her splayed across the piano. For shame, she’s to old to have her a$$ hanging out.

  37. G says:

    Uh, how does one recieve their tax reciept for this….?

  38. ct4224 says:

    She should have donated the profits from the show. The amount she charges for tickets is already too much and she is asking people to put up more. Stupid selfish celebrity. She should put up her own money not ask people for more of theirs.

  39. ben says:

    Mad Donna needs to do the world a favor and keep her clothes on.

  40. Heather says:

    She isn’t obligated to do anything…and I think she looks pretty good for her age. Dang, ladies.

    • kay says:

      Of course she isn’t obligated to do anything, no one ever is.

      I always think of the song “Praying for Time” whenever someone brings up that argument- people aren’t obligated to help others.

      Just read the lyrics and tell me this isn’t the attitude of too many people.

      These are the days of the open hand
      They will not be the last
      Look around now
      These are the days of the beggars and the choosers

      This is the year of the hungry man
      Whose place is in the past
      Hand in hand with ignorance
      And legitimate excuses

      The rich declare themselves poor
      And most of us are not sure
      If we have too much
      But we’ll take our chances
      ‘Cause God’s stopped keeping score
      I guess somewhere along the way
      He must have let us all out to play
      Turned his back and all God’s children
      Crept out the back door

      And it’s hard to love, there’s so much to hate
      Hanging on to hope
      When there is no hope to speak of
      And the wounded skies above say it’s much, much too late
      Well maybe we should all be praying for time

      These are the days of the empty hand
      Oh you hold on to what you can
      And charity is a coat you wear twice a year

      This is the year of the guilty man
      Your television takes a stand
      And you find that what was over there is over here

      So you scream from behind your door
      Say what’s mine is mine and not yours
      I may have too much but I’ll take my chances
      ‘Cause God’s stopped keeping score
      And you cling to the things they sold you
      Did you cover your eyes when they told you
      That he can’t come back
      ‘Cause he has no children to come back for

      • skuddles says:

        I’ve always loved this song, esp the meaningful lyrics. Thanks for posting kay – very apropos.

  41. Susie (1 of 3) says:

    Remember when she pretended to be an English country lady? Classy photos, etc. I guess that passed along with the accent.

  42. Bobby the K says:

    Looking for attention *is* her idea of a good deed.

  43. Str8Shooter says:

    I love how this hag uses the tragedy of Hurricane Sandy as an excuse to show off her skinny ass. Yuck! I’ll pay her NOT to show it!

    She is just trying to upstage Gaga who just, you know, DONATED a million bucks without having to put the audience through a strip show to do it!

  44. The Original Victoria says:

    Madonna On Her Striptease Dance:

    I’m surprised that anyone has time to critique my performance art veiled as a selfless act since they are so busy stuffing double whoppers with extra mayonnaise down their throats.

    Jealously is like poverty, there are always more people who are than aren’t. I don’t suck the life force out of those people. It’s bad for my complexion.

  45. stephanie says:

    it is time to retire. that is all.

  46. anne says:

    PATHETIC

  47. kimcheee says:

    She could learn about being sexy from Dita Von Teese.

  48. ZenB!tch says:

    Haven’t these poor people suffered enough?

  49. ZenB!tch says:

    She could have held a pricey private (small audience not lapdance) performance/striptease for Sandy, given all the proceeds from that AND her NYC area shows to the relief efforts, auctioned off her outfit and matched it all with her own money.

    While I personally prefer not to look at all that sinew, that would have come off as a fun event for people who like sinew and she would have gotten her attention while looking caring at the same time.

  50. e.non says:

    and the grand total raise…. drum roll please…. (according to local paper)

    $3000

    hell, i bet that pure oxygen she huffs costs more to supply her nightly.

  51. Jennifer says:

    I DO NOT appreciate this effort at all. The fans already spent money getting the expensive tickets. I think it would have been smarter to take $2 from every ticket and put it towards Sandy Relief.

  52. MiMi says:

    Someone needs to tell Grandma to settle down.

  53. TheOneAndOnlyOnly says:

    Great posts all – this is not music for the ages but embarassment for the ages – 3000 raised that’s it;One of her g-strings costs that much.

  54. JAZZ says:

    MADONNA is brilliant ( albeit a little self absorbed- goes with the business)
    She is showing and setting an example that women over 50 are still hot, sexy ,horny and relevant -Not in the ways presented by youth obsessed media which is the point. They can rock and still look hard and have needs and be gorgeousThis goes against .everything our society tells 50+ women they are and not .They would prefer them to go softly and demurely into the hight .We NEED this paradigm shift and we will thank her over and over when more get it.
    GOOD ON HER and thank you Madonna .. In ten years people might get how radical and necessary this movement was. ROCK ON MADONNA !!
    Keep on pushing those social paradigm envelopes!

  55. Chrissie Malcolm says:

    Oh dear God, just put it away, woman! She’s 54 and, yes, she looks amazing. She could look super-classy, so why does she always go for trashy? She could simply have donated millions of her own money, or have her audience participate. 50+ women can look hot and sexy, but it can be done with class. What is this tragic need to expose herself/strip at the slightest opportunity – something lacking in her life, I think. Getting sad and embarassing.

  56. Dinah says:

    Pathetic, disgusting, narcissistic old has-been.

  57. darth says:

    I am no fan of Madonna, and indeed she is an attention whore, everybody knows that. But I want to point out that the stripping routine and the words written on her back is just a regular part of the show that she’s been doing for months now. It just so happens that this time she incorporated a message about Sandy into it and used it to ask her audience for donations. It’s getting a bit annoying how the press makes a story out of every time she strips at her concert, when the stripping is a choreographed part of the show that is written in and happens at every single concert. So it’s dishonest for people to keep saying that it’s purely a publicity stunt every time. It’s not necessarily Madonna’s fault that someone is there with a camera at every show and then posts the pictures and tries to make a headline out of it.

    I also don’t agree with people accusing her of being old and desperate. For her entire career Madonna has used shock and controversy to sell herself, even when she was at her youngest and most popular. I honestly don’t see any difference between her as an entertainer in the 80’s or now. She’s just doing what she’s always done. It’s the public that has changed, from praising her and kissing her butt for this kind of behavior in the past, to now designating her as their new favorite person that they love to hate. Kind of hypocritical.

  58. Claire says:

    She might put on a good show but did she ever have the pipes like say, Alicia Keys or Beyonce? Madonna’s voice pales in comparison. Face is stretched tight as a canvas. Her slithering around on the floor licking a microphone is stupid at any age. Time to move on, Madonna. Next!