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Madonna fans have rushed to defend the songstress from backlash and calls to retire following her surprise cameo during Sabrina Carpenter’s headline set at Coachella on Friday.
The hitmaker, 67, was criticised online after taking to the stage in racy purple lingerie and belting out her hits alongside the 26-year-old Espresso singer.
But fans were quick to hit back at the taunts branding them ‘ageist and misogynistic’ before praising Madonna for being able to keep up Sabrina, who is 41 years her junior.
Taking to X they said: ‘Madonna is doing great.. only ageist, misogynist, insecure people who have issues with women of a certain age, still doing what they want in life, are bothered… if you don’t like her, just look away, don’t stream her songs, don’t buy her concert tickets. She is doing ok without you’.
‘Madonna is an icon a legend a superstar she looks amazing her performance is amazing she can keep up with a 25 year old performer’: Thought I’d check in on X but all people are doing is tearing down Madonna. Leave the Queen alone!!! She’s earned the right to live her life as she wants to’.
While more said: ‘I mean, she still is selling out shows, so not everyone thinks she should retire. I thought she did amazing. I can only hope to look that good at 67. Legends are legends until they die. No Madonna fans think she should retire lol’.
Madonna made her entrance towards the end of Carpenter’s set, and 20 years after her own 2006 Coachella performance which was a historic success.
Madonna emerged from beneath the stage to sing a duet of portions of her 1990 hit Vogue and her 1989 hit Like a Prayer while heavy vocals played in the background, per Page Six.
Moving to a part of the stage that extended into the crowd, Madonna said, ‘Wow, thank you… Sabrina, thank you so much for inviting me on your show.’
Madonna also had a message for the audience, telling them, ‘Let’s try to be together. Let’s try to avoid disagreements. And to that point, the great thing about music is that it brings people together.’
Carpenter’s second weekend show also featured cameos from well-known celebrities including Terry Crews, who slipped into his role in White Chicks and performed a rendition of Vanessa Carlton’s A Thousand Miles.
Geena Davis delivered a monologue similar to the one performed by Thelma & Louise co-star Susan Sarandon during Carpenter’s headlining first weekend show at Coachella.
Her comeback perfomance was also tainted by claims she was lip-syncing the whole way through.
The Material Girl was labeled ‘fraud’ for supposedly creating the illusion she was singing ahead of her new album Confessions II which drops July 3.
One disappointed fan even brought up Elton John’s infamous comment about Madonna’s alleged lip-syncing during a 2004 awards show.
‘Elton John said it best about Madonna and her lip syncing fraud,’ the fan wrote on X.
In a 2012 tirade, the Rocketman superstar called Madonna a ‘fairground stripper’ and ‘nightmare’ and said artists that lip-sync should be ashamed of themselves. It led to a years-long fued between the pop icons until they made up in 2023.
Others who watched Friday night’s performance in the California desert echoed that opinion, and they had some choice words for Carpenter too.
‘Madonna WAS “helped” by a very high volume backing voice track,’ one commented on X. ‘Someone could argue and call it lip syncing. I would not disagree with them. But, hey, Sabrina did the same during her gig. But then, it is Coachella: it has become more like a parade rather than a live event.’
‘Madonna is lip syncing and Sabrina is singing over the backing track. Sabrina sounds great,’ a second chimed in.
‘An old woman can still dream…. But what bothers me most is that Madonna could have done a better job at lip syncing,’ a third complained.
‘Lip syncing, I’m pretty sure. The vocals aren’t matching with when the microphone goes to their mouth. Madonna has always been a terrible singer. If she hadn’t used outrageous costumes and behaviour we would never have heard of her,’ a fourth opined.
Yet another ventured to add, ‘Madonna lip-syncing while Sabrina live-singing. Terrible song. It’ll go nowhere.’
‘No thanks needed, Madonna,’ Carpenter replied as they held hands.
‘Well, I have a few things I want to get off my chest,’ the Express Yourself hitmaker went on. ‘So, 20 years ago today I performed at Coachella. I was in the dance tent, and it was the first time I performed Confessions on a Dance Floor part one in America. It was such a thrill – and it’s a thrill to be back. It’s a full circle moment, you know? Very meaningful for me.’
