UPDATE: Watch the video below.
The Eastern European leg of Madonna's "Sticky & Sweet" tour is not off to a good start. After getting death threats in Serbia due to her use of orthodox religious iconography, thousands of fans booed Madonna in Bucharest, Romania after she spoke out against discrimination against gays and the Roma, also known as gypsies, reports the Romanian Times.
"She told them: 'I've never been to Romania before and I am happy to be here. But I found out that there is a lot of discrimination against gypsies in Eastern Europe and that makes me very sad, especially because we believe in acceptance, gypsies, homosexuals, people that are different. Everyone must be treated the same, don't forget that!' But instead of the applause she expected fans jeered and booed the statement. There are over 500,000 gypsies officially registered in Romania but the real numbers are expected to be much more as many have not declared their ethnicity in a country where they face widespread discrimination. They are Romania's most socially and economically disadvantaged minority, with high illiteracy levels."
The Huffingon Post reports "thousands of fans booed and jeered" the pop icon "who ... got even more boos when she mentioned discrimination against homosexuals."
Gays in Romania have been targeted by the violent neo-Nazi and ultra-nationalist fervor that has swept some parts of Eastern Europe. Marchers at Bucharest's gay rights rallies "have been met by hundreds of protesters who hurl stones, eggs, tomatoes, and trash at them in an effort to break up the marches." Meanwhile, in neighboring Hungary, six Roma were killed and several wounded in a recent "series of apparently racially motivated attacks."
Madonna reportedly made her remarks during a performance of "La Isla Bonita". Watch the booing and the performance, via Towleroad, WHEN YOU JUMP.
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