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Madonna's speech, which was criticized on social media, led
some television networks to abruptly stop their live feeds of
the march, which drew hundreds of thousands of people in
demonstrations across the United States to protest the election
of Donald Trump as president.
"I am not a violent person," the singer songwriter said on
Instagram. "I spoke in metaphor and I shared two ways of looking
at things — one was to be hopeful, and one was to feel anger and
outrage, which I have personally felt."
The 58-year-old led the crowd on Saturday in chants of, "Yes,
we're ready" to take on policies promoted by Trump, who
alienated many women during the election campaign with comments'
about rivals' attractiveness and promises to outlaw or diminish
abortion rights.
Trump's comments in a decade-old video declaring that women
would allow him, as a celebrity, to kiss and grope them without
their consent further outraged many women.
But Madonna preceded the chants with coarse words for critics of
the march.
"To our detractors that insist that this march will never add up
to anything, fuck you," the pop star said. She then repeated the
expletive.
Her words drew immediate criticism on social media. On Youtube,
where the speech was posted live and in recorded formats,
several users called the singer "evil."
Others expressed outrage over her comment that she had thought
about blowing up the White House. On Twitter, some users
demanded that she be investigated for making terrorist threats.
Turnout for Saturday's march was unprecedented, as organizers
took credit for mobilizing 5 million marchers worldwide.
Official crowd estimates for the Washington centerpiece of the
demonstration were not available, but turnout in the nation's
capital clearly exceeded the 200,000 projected in advance by
organizers, filling long stretches of downtown Washington around
the White House and the National Mall.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif.; Editing by
Lisa Von Ahn)
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