The representative of HITS 105 announced that the singer's songs would be removed from the station's local programming 'indefinitely' following her controversial speech at the Women's March.
- Jan 25, 2017
AceShowbiz - Following her controversial speech at the Women's March on Washington last week, a Texas Radio station announced that it would not be playing Madonna's music for indefinite time. In a statement issued on Tuesday, January 24, the representative of HITS 105 said that the singer's songs would be removed from the station's local programming "indefinitely."
Terry Thomas, the station's general manager, said in a statement, "Banning all Madonna songs at HITS 105 is not a matter of politics, it's a matter of patriotism. It just feels wrong to us to be playing Madonna songs and paying her royalties when the artist has shown un-American sentiments."
He also urged other stations to follow in his footsteps. "If all stations playing Madonna took their lead from us, that would send a powerful economic message to Madonna," he said. Since Nielsen doesn't monitor HITS 105, it's unclear how frequently the station played Madonna's songs previously.
It's not the first time Madonna received backlash over her speech. Former speaker of the White House Newt Gingrich thought that the singer should be arrested. Speaking on "Fox & Friends" on Monday, January 23, Gingrich compared the singer to protesters who broke windows on Friday, January 20 during Donald Trump's inauguration. "What you have is an emerging left-wing fascism," said Gingrich. "She's part of it, and I think we have to be prepared to protect ourselves. The truth is, she ought to be arrested."
Speaking in front of an estimated 500,000 people at the march, the 58-year-old singer said that she was angry after the election and had thought "an awful lot about blowing up the White House, but I know that this won't change anything." The rest of her speech talked about revolution and love while she repeatedly dropped F-bombs and cursed at "detractors that insist this march will never add up to anything."
In response to the backlash about her comments, Madonna said, "I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it's important people hear and understand my speech in its entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context."
