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Madonna Not Nailed Over Crucifixion
08/21/2006 6:32 PM, E! Online
Looks like Madonna won't be crucified after all. At least, not
offstage.
Just a week after threatening to press charges
against the Confessions on a Dancefloor singer for her
"insulting" mock-crucifixion concert routine, German prosecutors have
decided against opening an investigation into the potential illegality
of the pop star's act.
Last week, German officials in
Duesseldorf threatened to monitor and possibly take legal action against
Madonna if she went ahead with her Jesus-channeling performance during
her Sunday concert.
The cross-writhing routine has been
drawing practically continent-wide religious ire since the Material One
kicked off the European leg of her Confessions tour last month. Germans,
though, were primed to take particular offense as insulting religious
beliefs is illegal in their country and holds a maximum sentence of
three years in prison.
Early Monday morning, however, Johannes
Mocken, a spokesman for the prosecutors, told the Associated Press that
no investigation would take place as, "hurtful to religious people" as
the performance might have been, no crime had taken place.
There's a relief.
According to Mocken, the routine, which
includes Madonna strapped to an elevated mirrored cross while donning a
crown of thorns and crooning her 1986 ballad "Live To Tell," was covered
by laws protecting artistic freedom.
She performed the
routine in front of a sold-out crowd of 45,000 Sunday night, none of
whom were the monitoring lawyers. The legal crew said they would not
attend the show, but would rely on media reports and other first-hand
accounts to determine whether or not the pop star had broken any laws.
As it turns out, they were the only ones concerned.
According to Deutsche Welle, German media reports found just one
complaint of blasphemy lodged against the singer, which had been filed
before the concert even took place.
Still, Madonna's not in
the persecution clear just yet.
Just like in England, Russia
and Italy before it, a group of German bishops is calling for a boycott
on the "Hung Up" singer's remaining concert dates.
"I thought
Madonna was better than this because she claims to be a religious
person," Bishop Margot Kasmann told Germany's Bild am Sonntag
paper. "But maybe the only way an aging superstar can attract attention
is to offend people's religious sentiments."
Liz Rosenberg,
the controversy-courting star's longtime publicist, maintains that the
mock-crucifixion scene is not intended to be disrespectful toward the
church, claiming that her famous client "does not think Jesus would be
mad at her."
Jesus may not be mad at her, but a whole lot of
his representatives certainly seem to be.
Madonna continues
her tour in Russia this week, where religious leaders have already taken
the liberty of denouncing her show.
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