Madonna speaks out against Roma discrimination
While on stage in Romania during her Sticky and Sweet tour, pop Diva Madonna was jeered by people in the audience in Bucharest when she spoke out against discrimination against Romany Gypsies. The singer made the comments after being made aware of the prejudice towards Romany people in Eastern Europe.
Madonna, who uses a group of Roma musicians on her Sticky and Sweet tour, paused during her the show to say: “It has been brought to my attention, that there is a lot of discrimination against Romanies and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe – it made me feel very sad. We don’t believe in discrimination, we believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone.” The statement was greeted with a mix of boos and cheers but she received more boos when she mentioned prejudice against homosexuals.
Madonna’s agent said that Madonna has been touring with a “phenomenal” troupe of Roma musicians who made her aware of the discrimination toward them in several countries so she felt compelled to make a brief statement.
Just under 6m of Europe’s estimated 12m Roma claim to have suffered some form of discrimination in the last 12 months, according to a recent report by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency. The agency report sates that Roma face overt discrimination in housing, employment, health care and education. Romania has the largest number of Roma in Eastern Europe. One concert goer commented: “I jeered her because it seemed false what she was telling us. What business does she have telling us these things?”
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