Madonna's swastika statement elicits legal threats in France

L.A. Times Archives

July 16, 2012 12 AM PT

By Danielle Paquette

Dear Madonna: When it comes to edgy statements, cone bras are one thing — but swastikas point to lawsuits.

During the matriarch of pop’s Bastille Day concert near Paris on Saturday, a video montage featured a creepy image of French National Front party leader Marine Le Pen with the Nazi symbol flashing on her forehead, Entertainment Weekly reported.

Today in obvious: Le Pen didn’t appreciate the not-so-subtle comparison. The far-right party will file a legal complaint in French court this week, a rep told a national French newspaper Sunday.

“We are obliged to react because Marine Le Pen has been accused in a very serious manner,” National Front spokesman Florian Philippot said in an interview with Le JDD. “But what seems to me even more serious is the trivialization of Nazism, of something that is horrible. They are, after all, diffusing images of Hitler during a show to be provocative.”

Provocative? Madonna? Say it ain’t so.

It’s not the first questionable stunt the singer has pulled on her “MDNA” world tour: She flashed a nipple in Istanbul and bared her bottom in Rome. Oh, yeah, she did both of those in France too.

The swastika clip -- watch it below -- debuted at the tour’s opener in Tel Aviv, according to the Daily Beast. Video uploaded by an attendee quickly went viral in France.

How much in damages Le Pen will seek has yet to be determined. Perhaps Madge will nix that part of the show when her tour returns to France on Aug. 21.