Madonna called out the Boy Scouts, Vladimir Putin and spoke of wanting to start a revolution, all while dressed as a boy scout at the GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday night.
Madonna at the GLAAD Media Awards
“I want to start a revolution. Are you with me?”
Madonna started her speech by lamenting the fact that the Boy Scouts of America wouldn’t accept her. “I know how to build a fire. I can pitch a tent,” she began. “Most importantly, I know how to scout for boys.”
She was of course drawing attention to the fact that the Boy Scouts of America currently do not allow openly gay people to be members.
The Material Girl had also posted a couple of photos to her Instagram account, one of which had the caption, “I wanna be a Boy Scout but they won’t let me! I know how to rub 2 pieces of wood together.”
Getting onto a more serious note, Madonna spoke about how on one hand, the Internet has brought us closer together, but on the other hand, it has done the opposite.
“A picture doesn’t tell a thousand stories. A picture tells a version of a thousand stories and this supposed intimacy that we think we are gaining is false. It is unearned. It is a trick.”
She touched on issues around the world, from Israel and Palestine, to Putin’s political showdown with punk rockers Pussy Riot and to the fact that she’s currently fighting a lawsuit for one million dollars for openly supporting the gay community in Russia.
The mother of four spoke of her heartache at hearing of teenagers who have taken their lives as a result of being bullied and questioned whether or not America really was the land of the free and the home of the brave, if this was allowed to continue.
She acknowledged CNN news anchor, Anderson Cooper, whom she presented with the Vito Russo Award, as being brave, as being someone she admires and as someone who gives a voice to the LGBT community.
The full list of winners at the New York GLAAD Media Awards is available on their website. Further awards ceremonies will be held in Los Angeles in April and San Francisco in May.
You can watch Madonna’s full speech below.
