Cross scene could be reason in Singapore

If you are a Madonna fan from Singapore waiting for her Confessions Tour on DVD, forget it. The DVD has been banned there.

Singapore’s Electric New Paper understands it is because of the controversial mock crucifixion that Madonna staged during her world tour last year, when she performed the song “Live To Tell” suspended from a cross while wearing a crown of thorns.

“When we contacted Warner Music Singapore” – the newspaper continues – “its marketing manager, Mr Simon Nasser, said the Media Development Authority has not approved the DVD’s release.

MDA could not be reached for comment at press time.

Mr Nasser said Warner Music had submitted it for approval last month. The application and a subsequent appeal were rejected.

“We were asked to remove the cross scene in the video but Warner Singapore does not have the rights from Madonna’s management to do that,” he said.

The Confessions Tour, which went to 25 cities in seven countries, has drawn protests. The BBC reported that church groups in the US and Europe condemned the performance and in the Netherlands, a priest was arrested after he attempted to stop the Dutch leg of the tour by making a hoax bomb threat.

Dutch Protestant groups wanted to bring blasphemy charges against Madonna, but the Amsterdam prosecutors’ office refused, saying the scene was subject to different interpretations.

Madonna released a statement after the Japan leg of the tour in September last year, saying that her act was not mocking the church.

She said: ‘My performance is neither anti-Christian, sacrilegious nor blasphemous. Rather, it is my plea to the audience to encourage mankind to help one another and to see the world as a unified whole.’

The performance, she explained, was intended to draw attention to the millions of African children dying of Aids.

Mr Brenton Wong, 44, a public relations consultant, said he was not surprised by the ban. “It is understandable. In Singapore we are sensitive about provoking religious groups,” he said.

But he also thinks our society is mature enough to handle the provocative material that Madonna dishes out.

“She’s known to do it,” he said. “People should not read so much into it.”

From an article by Sheela Narayanan, The Electric New Paper.