Madonna re-enacts Pulse shooting in graphic God Control music video
Madonna’s music video features a graphic shooting resembling the Pulse massacre
Madonna has re-enacted the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse gay nightclub in an extremely graphic new music video for track “God Control.”
The long-reigning Queen of Pop unveiled the shocking video on Wednesday (June 26), just weeks on from the third anniversary of the terror attack that claimed 49 lives.
Madonna “God Control” music video evokes Pulse massacre
The eight-minute video, which plays out in reverse across an evening, depicts a shooter opening fire on terrified people inside a nightclub, intercut with scenes of Madonna typing the song’s lyrics of protest on a typewriter.
The club where the shooting takes place bears a striking resemblance to Pulse, with the video depicting the dead clubbers in genderfluid outfits, covered in blood and glitter.
The new Madonna new music video is extremely graphic
Reflecting on the lack of action on gun control in the US, Madonna sings: “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.”
As the graphic footage shows people’s gory deaths, the singer adds: “This is your wake-up call.”
The end of the video intercuts scenes of the singer being robbed at gunpoint with footage from real-life protests against gun control.
No one is safe, singer warns
It concludes with the message: “Every year over 36,000 Americans are killed in acts of gun violence, and approximately 100,000 more are shot and injured. No one is safe. Gun control. Now.”
The singer’s new album Madame X features another track, “I Rise”, that samples a speech from 19-year-old bisexual gun control activist Emma González, who survived the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Madonna explained last month that “I Rise” is dedicated to marginalised groups, as the world prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots, considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement.
In a speech at the Stonewall Inn in January, she explained: “We come together tonight to celebrate 50 years of revolution, 50 years of freedom fighting, 50 years of blood, sweat, and tears. Can I get an amen?
“50 years of sacrifice, 50 years of standing up to discrimination, hatred and, worst of all, indifference. And it all started here, at Stonewall.”
Madonna added: “Let us never forget the Stonewall riots and those who bravely stood up and said, ‘enough.’”
