The Internet has dunked Madonna in scalding hot water for using images of black civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Bob Marley to promote her forthcoming album, Rebel Heart. Posting the aforementioned photos to her Instagram account, Madge depicts each late icon with wire wrapped around their faces — imagery that is identical to her record’s cover art and is clearly meant to position herself among the activists. Additionally, each photo is accompanied by captions like, “This #rebelheart had a dream!” (King). Anyway, the comments are not kind.
Before posting the offending pictures, Madonna published additional portraits of Jesus Christ, Marilyn Monroe, and Michael Jackson, as well as an image reading, “Dear haters, I have so much MORE for you to be mad at…Be patient!” Stereogum alleges that the images are likely fan-made (an Italian video editor with the Instagram handle @skinbruno created the images of King and Mandela). Fan-made or not, this latest move is no doubt in extremely poor taste. See the images below.