A mass shooting survivor has labelled Madonna as ‘really insensitive’ for depicting a massacre in her latest music video.
Patience Carter said she’s ‘traumatized’ by the graphic video for God Control, which the 60-year-old released on Wednesday and which bears a striking resemblance to the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Florida, in an interview with TMZ.
‘It was grossly accurate to what I witnessed that night,’ Carter said of the 8min 21sec music video.
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‘Insensitive’: A mass shooting survivor has labelled Madonna as ‘really insensitive’ for depicting a massacre in her latest music video
The music video begins with a warning, printed on the screen, which reads, ‘The story you are about to see is very disturbing. It shows graphic scenes of gun violence.’
‘But it’s happening everyday. And it has to stop.’
The music video then shows the Like A Virgin hitmaker sitting at a typewriter, cross cut with disturbing imagery of a man with a semi automatic weapon shooting up a nightclub.
As the music video goes on, we see increasingly violent images of the shooting, including patrons being shot and blood-soaked bodies on the floor.
‘Traumatized’: Patience Carter said she’s ‘traumatized’ by the graphic video for God Control, which the 60-year-old released on Wednesday and which bears a striking resemblance to the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Florida. Seen here in 2016
Controversy: The music video begins with a warning, printed on the screen, which reads, ‘The story you are about to see is very disturbing
The song’s evocative lyrics begin, ‘Everybody knows the damn truth/Our nation lied, we lost respect/When we wake up, what can we do?’
‘Get the kids ready, take them to school/Everybody knows they don’t have a chance/To get a decent job, to have a normal life’.
‘When they talk reforms, it makes me laugh/They pretend to help, it makes me laugh/I think I understand why people get a gun’.
‘I think I understand why we all give up/Every day they have a kind of victory/Blood of innocence, spread everywhere’.
‘They say that we need love/But we need more than this/We lost God control’.
The music video then shows the Like A Virgin hitmaker sitting at a typewriter, cross cut with disturbing imagery of a man with a semi automatic weapon shooting up a nightclub
Distressing: As the music video goes on, we see increasingly violent images of the shooting, including patrons being shot and blood-soaked bodies on the floor
The Pulse Nightclub shooting occurred on June 12, 2016, when Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old security guard, killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in the Orlando-based gay nightclub.
Mateen was killed by police following a standoff.
His wife, Noor Salman, was charged with aiding and abetting her husband in support of a terrorist organization and obstruction of justice.
She was acquitted of the charges in 2018.
Message: The song’s evocative lyrics begin, ‘Everybody knows the damn truth/Our nation lied, we lost respect/When we wake up, what can we do?’
‘Get the kids ready, take them to school/Everybody knows they don’t have a chance/To get a decent job, to have a normal life’.
Meanwhile, Madonna has admitted she’s worried about the safety of children Lourdes, 22, Rocco, 18, David, 13, Mercy, also 13, and six-year-old twins Estere and Stelle.
The Ray Of Light hitmaker has said she’s often worried when she sends her children to school out of a ‘fear’ that they won’t come home, because of the threat of gun violence.
She told PEOPLE: ‘I send my children to school with the same fear every mother in this era has. As a mother, you feel protective and responsible for all of the children in the world.’
Tragedy: The Pulse Nightclub shooting occurred on June 12, 2016, when Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old security guard, killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in the Orlando-based gay nightclub
The music video also featured documentary footage of national protests against the shooting epidemic
‘It’s really scary to me that the once-safe spaces where we gather, worship and learn are targets. Nobody’s safe. So of course, as a mother, I acutely feel the worry.’
The Vogue hitmaker says she thinks about the potential threat of violence often, and says it’s a ‘crazy state of mind’ to be in.
She added: ‘Every time I go out to a public gathering, I think about it. When my kids go to school, I think about it. It’s kind of crazy.’
Interview: ‘It’s really scary to me that the once-safe spaces where we gather, worship and learn are targets. Nobody’s safe. So of course, as a mother, I acutely feel the worry,’ said Madonna on Wednesday
Madonna released her music video for new track God Control on Wednesday, which calls for gun violence prevention, as she believes it is the ‘biggest problem in America right now’.
Speaking to People magazine, she said: ‘I made this video because I want to draw attention to a crisis that needs to be addressed.’
‘To me, this is the biggest problem in America right now. I cannot take it anymore.’