Barack Obama compared to Mahatma Gandhi and John Lennon by Madonna

By Matthew B. Zeidman

CARDIFF, Wales (Hollywood Today) 8/25/08 – Saturday was the first performance of Madonna’s highly anticipated “Sticky and Sweet” tour, and the Michigan-born entertainer wasted no time in stirring up controversy. According to the Associated Press, a video montage was played during the show, preceding a photograph of Republican presidential candidate John McCain with images of destruction, global warming, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and anti-Western president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe.

Not limiting the Welsh audience to her opinion on only one White House hopeful, Madonna played a more favorable montage later on, AP reported, this time following pictures of John Lennon, Al Gore and Mahatma Gandhi with McCain’s Democratic rival, Barack Obama.

Madonna hasn’t been afraid to step on toes before, having received heavy criticism during 2006’s Confessions tour from various Christian leaders for performing the song “Live to Tell” while suspended from a cross. Also during that tour, Madonna substituted curse-laden lyrics during her performance of “I Love New York” to insult President Bush.

During Madonna’s Blond Ambition tour in 1990, Pope John Paul II urged Catholics not to buy tickets because of the interspersing of Catholic and sexual themes, and her 1989 music video for “Like a Prayer,” which featured her dancing in front of burning crosses and experiencing stigmata, caused Pepsi to pull a commercial featuring Madonna and the song after just a few airings.

Though Madonna was raised Catholic, she has been an ardent follower of Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism, for several years. Fellow pop star Britney Spears studied the religion after befriending Madonna, but declared in mid-2006 that she had discontinued her involvement with Kabbalah to focus on raising her first son, Sean Preston.