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Madonna Will Crash the Pussy Riot Concert, Too

Madonna, Pussy Riot

Madonna will be taking the stage at another politically conscious music event. Fresh off garishly serenading 33 newlywed couples during the Grammys’ Macklemore “Same Love” spectacle, the Material Girl is set to appear at a Pussy Riot gig. She’ll be introducing the recently freed members of the Russian protest-punk group at Amnesty International’s Bringing Human Rights Home concert, the organization has announced.

“I am honored to introduce my fellow freedom fighters Masha and Nadya from Pussy Riot,” Madonna said in a statement. “I have admired their courage and have long supported their commitment and the sacrifices they have made in the name of freedom of expression and human rights.” The event takes place at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on February 5.

The pop legend has long championed Pussy Riot, and the group released a video thanking her (among others) in late 2012. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, who got out of Russian prison December 23 after serving 21 months for a musical protest against President Vladimir Putin, will be speaking about “prisoners of conscience,” according to Amnesty International. Performers at the concert will include Imagine Dragons, the Flaming Lips, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Tegan and Sara, the Fray, Cold War Kids, Colbie Caillat, and Cake.

The event follows a handful of politically themed moves for Madonna. Before her role in the Grammys’ self-congratulatory marriage-equality effort, she released an agit-pop short film titled secretprojectrevolution last fall via BitTorrent. In support of the project, she covered Elliott Smith’s “Between the Bars,” muffing at least one lyric but graciously declining to add EDM beats.

Right before that, though, Madonna gave a charismatic Reddit AMA in which she hinted at a follow-up to 2012’s MDNA and publicly flirted with Frank Ocean. Point is, just because she’s also on deck for Miley Cyrus’ MTV Unplugged special tonight — it’s happening; they taped it yesterday — doesn’t mean she’ll necessarily show up to the Pussy Riot shindig slaughtering one of her best-loved hits and dressed like Beetlejuice, or something. Let’s hope the Madonna we get that night is the inspirational Madonna.