Madonna hits back at ageist criticism after Grammy Awards appearance Madonna has spoken out against criticism of her appearance after presenting at the Grammy Awards Sunday night. In her latest Instagram post, the multi-award-winning singer lamented being "caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny that permeates the world we live in," after a close-up photo of her face went viral online and sparked a torrent of negative comments.
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The image was taken while Madonna was introducing Kim Petras and Sam Smith's performance of "Unholy." (Smith identifies as nonbinary, while Petras became the world's first openly transgender woman to perform at the event.) Madonna called it a "history making moment," adding: "Instead of focusing on what I said in my speech which was about giving thanks for the fearlessness of artists like Sam and Kim — many people chose to only talk about close-up photos of me taken with a long lens camera by a press photographer that would distort anyone's face!"
Madonna's Instagram page was flooded with comments calling her scary, unrecognizable and denouncing her supposed "obsession with plastic surgery" — though the singer has never publicly addressed rumors of cosmetic enhancements. The British television host Piers Morgan, who is often criticized for making hateful and sexist comments, dedicated a segment to the viral photo on his Talk TV show, "Piers Morgan Uncensored."
