Madonna has demonstrated she can still shock, over thirty years on from her Like A Prayer controversy, with a ‘Marilyn Monroe death bed’ magazine shoot.
Madonna, 63, marked her switch from ‘pop star’ to ‘artist’ with the provocative 1989 music video. The Vatican were among her critics to blast the use of ‘blasphemous’ Christian imagery in the single’s accompanying vid.
But it seems Madge still has the capacity to get people going in 2021. However, some observers feel she is ’embarrassing herself’ in her latest exploits.
Why has Madonna ‘recreated the Marilyn Monroe death bed scene’?
V Magazine has been teasing a cover shoot with Madonna on social media for a few weeks.
A recent Instagram post claimed Madge is paying tribute to a photo shoot featuring Hollywood legend Marilyn in the latest images.
Read more: Madonna shocks fans with ‘unrecognisable’ look after she is compared to an ‘alien’ on Instagram
That shoot was conducted by Bert Stern just six weeks before Marilyn’s death in August 1962.
A Instagram post caption from V Magazine read: “The inimitable icon gets captured through the lens of photographer and longtime collaborator @StevenKleinStudio. [This is] an homage to the glamour and tragedy of cinema star #MarilynMonroe — inspired by #BertStern’s iconic ‘The Last Sitting’.”
‘Morbid and eerie’
Posting images from the V Magazine shoot, as well as an image from the scene where Marilyn died, one critic slammed Madonna as “morbid”.
One pic shows Madonna laying face down on a mattress and exposing her bum.
Another includes prescription pill bottles by a nightstand. Marilyn’s death was ruled a probable suicide due to an overdose of sedatives.
This is so gross.
Entertainment expert Mike Sington wrote on Twitter: “For some morbid and eerie reason, Madonna decides to re-create Marilyn Monroe’s death bed.”
Many of those responding to his tweet were also underwhelmed by the art direction of the shoot.
How others reacted to Madonna’s pics
One Twitter user replied: “I feel sorry for M, she’s embarrassing herself.”
Another tweeted: “This isn’t cool. Glamorizing suicide is the only takeaway once the shock factor wears off.”
“[Madonna] is trying desperately to be relevant,” claimed someone else.
“She can’t shock us in her underwear anymore. She already used that trick years ago.”
Read more: Graham Norton Show: Jesy Nelson divides viewers with first solo performance
And yet another person added: “Must be sad to still need so much attention. And this is so gross.”
However, some Madonna fans pointed out how Marilyn influences have featured throughout her career.
Indeed, the music video for 1984’s Material Girl aped the Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend sequence from 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Another tweeter claimed: “Not my thing. But I feel Marilyn Monroe would like the emulation.”
Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think of this story.