Madonna Booed in Bucharest by Band of Gypsy Haters

By PopEater Staff Posted Aug 27th 2009 09:25AM

Thousands of Romanian concertgoers made their displeasure known with Madonna on Wednesday, after the singer paused her show to speak out against the persecution of Gypsies in that corner of Europe.

"It's been brought to my attention that there's a lot of discrimination against Romani and Gypsies in general in eastern Europe, and that makes me very sad," she told the crowd of 60,000 in Bucharest. As she spoke, a vocal minority began booing her words. She did not acknowledge the jeers. Watch video after the jump.

When she proclaimed, "We believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone!", you can actually hear people yelling "No!", however the cheers of approving fans eventually drowned out the grumbling.

Many of the dancers and musicians in Madonna's show were Gypsies, also known as Roma.

According to the Associated Press, there are some 500,000 Roma in Romania, but the real number could total around 2 million. They have long faced prejudice and discrimination in eastern European nations.

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=694771&pid=694770&uts=1251383127

http://www.popeater.com/mm_track/popeater/music/?s_channel=us.musicpop&s_account=aolnews,aolsvc&omni=1&ke=1

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf

Madonna Live

U.S. singer Madonna, center, performs during her concert in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. The concert is part of Madonna's Sticky and Sweet Tour. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Madonna Snapshots

US pop diva Madonna performs in Bucharest late on August 26, 2009, as part of her European "Sticky and Sweet" tour. AFP PHOTO ANDREI PUNGOVSCHI (Photo credit should read ANDREI PUNGOVSCHI/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

US singer Madonna performs during her concert in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. The concert is part of the artist's Sticky and Sweet Tour. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

U.S. singer Madonna performs during her concert in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. The concert is part of Madonna's Sticky and Sweet Tour. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

U.S. singer Madonna, center, performs during her concert in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. The concert is part of Madonna's Sticky and Sweet Tour. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

US pop singer Madonna performs on stage during her "Sticky and Sweet" tour concert in Bucharest on August 26, 2009. AFP PHOTO DANIEL MIHAILESCU (Photo credit should read DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

Tags: gypsies, madonna, romania

Comments

(271)

Sunday 30 August

By Flagrante Delicto

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Let's see Madonna come to the Arizona border and pull this crap for the illegal aliens jumping our border. Madonna is a troll.

By MoYenBX

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

A celebrity is using her power to hold people's attention

("OMGz, a link to an article about a popstar saying something, I must CLICK ON IT and give my two cents!!!")

for something more important than twittering about how she's eating icecream right now or how her own life is so hard, is not something to be offended by. When women and their children are being treated like sh!t by their society and men aren't allowed to get ahead in life, it's actually pretty f!cking sh!tty that so many people feel the need to whine about a celebrity from their airconditioned houses on their expensive laptops like life is just so hard.

By Greg

If I want to hear any more political s#*t I will turn on the TV. I agree that singers should stick to singing and actors to acting. We don't want to hear from some liberal that has a maid for everything in her life and more money than she could ever spend. Just like Oprah, shut up. Look who she stepped up for in the presidential race and look where her ratings are now. But what does she care? She has all the money she could ever spend also.

By michaelscialo

Vote down Vote up Report this

I don't always agree with celebrities socio-political views, in fact, I often disagree. Still, free speech is about defending the rights of every individual to speak his mind, publicly. If an entertainer offends me to the point where I no longer enjoy his or her show, I stop watching. Otherwise, I celebrate the multitude of differing ideas and hope that intelligent debate will ultimately lead to better politics and government.

Why are we Americans so afraid of hearing opposing views that we would wish the opposition to be silenced? Are we so intimidated by others' intelligence that we no longer can bear a challenge to our beliefs? In my limited travels to Europe, I have observed quite a different culture. I have noted that Europeans enjoy exercising free speech, debating with friends, often heatedly, and never seem to take it personally. Yet in the United States, it is considered rude to "argue"...as if arguing itself denies a person's right to "his own opinion."

Forgive the long post, folks, but anyone, entertainers included, who raises awareness of issues and encourages debate on those issues has my support, whether I agree with him or not. That's what our founding fathers intended. I beseech you all, use your minds, voice your opinions, debate the issues. Don't be afraid of changing your position, or not, depending on the arguments in which you've engaged. Only this way can we truly deserve the freedoms for which we claim are worth fighting and dying.

By Carol

Right Joe I agree. We do have freedom of speech and I will defend it to the end. However, if you pay good $$$ to go hear a concert you are not interested in their opinion, just entertain us. I for one am so fed up with the entertainment industry that I have stopped reading about them, stopped going to movies, cancelled my Netflix account and anything else I can do NOT to have to listen to their opinions, or watch their filth. The Hollywood Nuts are just. A bunch of freaks (for the most part not all, but most) Has anyone noticed they seem to have gotten a little quiter since BO has been in office. He doesn't like high salaries and wants to do something about that. Wants us all poor. Lets face it none of them are worth what they are paid. EVERYONE has to agree on that.

By Helena

I couldn't agree with you more!!!! They have to much to say. Madonna will never have to worry about anything in her life , who is she to preach to anyone any where.

By Wayne

I disagree Derrick the moron is you.. by speaking out against minorities doesn't now nor will it ever make you a Christian.. and if you believe that is what Madonna is maybe you need to look at her alot closer.. if her shows and her actions now and in the past are that of a Christian way of life then no wonder the world is in a sad shape it is.. only thing that her speaking out against things in the world does is get her name in the spot light a little more now that her and A-Rod are not doing it.. hummmm i believe A-Rod was married as well when they were doing it..

By paul

to report these idiot web site advertisers click on the exclamation point to the right of the comment
+-!
PS if Madonna wants to make the world a better place she should retire

By Donna

AMEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

to report click on the exclamation point ! to the right of the comment

By Bryan

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Shut up and sing....

By thinking man

Will somebody please tell Madonna that she is not British and to lose the phony accent. She sounds ridiculous.

By momprayn

What about the persecution of Christians?
I'm sure that would have gotten a lot of boos also.
Yes ---- she should keep her mouth shut among other things..........pray for Madonna.

By Bubba

"It's been brought to my attention"

Who the hell does she think she is?

By Blaine

To you self righteous liberals: Plese read up on the history of the Roma people. Find out about thier way of life. Learn how they live to scam off of others. Learn how they teach thier children and use them in thier scams and thievery. I am not being prejudice people, this is how they have lived for hundreds and hundreds of years. It is a society of people that preys off of the hard work of others. Please take the time to to speak with anybody from eastern Europe that is familiar with this culture. Talk to any Russian, Bosnian, Serbian, Hungarian, Romanian etc. It is not prejudice and discrimination. It is an extreme dislike for people that make a living by stealing and dishonety.

By JOHN

Singers and movie stars helped Obama get elected along with the left wing media. See where that is getting us. We have the largest debt in history and the worse unemployment since the Great Depression. I think movie stars and singers should stick with their professional product and stay out of politics when performing. What they say and do while not performing is their right to do without trying to brainwash us when we go to concerts or movies. Most of these so called movie stars and singers have little more than a high school education and they live un-real lives due to their high income. They have no real idea of what an average American lives like and how most Americans live paycheck to paycheck and the price of gas going up can mean the difference of eating three decent meals or skipping a few meals in order to pay for the increase in gas to get to and from work. I believe in what Madonna said, but I do not believe she should be preaching it at concerts where people pay to hear her sing and perform. My two cents!

By LeeAnn

When I go to a concert, I pay to listen to the music - period!

By jay

Another skank entertainer doing anything she can to extend her career. She knows nothing of the situation and should keep her commentary off the stage. Time for Madonna to hang up her dance shoes and head to the retirement home. She can join Brad, Angolie, Bono and countless others who use the stage as a bully pulpit to deliver a weak message and keep themselves in front of teh media. Laborious, painful and boring to listen to their ill fated attempts at social messaging

By sharwell70

Marit,

Thank you for expressing exactly how I feel about people who put those ads on pages like these. It is totally annoying. They need to stick to the topic at hand. This goes on all the time and AOL should boot them all off. Shar

By Tony

Agree 100%. They should stick to singing. What happens is that their ego grows to the point that they think they know it all.

Page 5 of 14