Madonna’s Craziest Controversies

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White Wedding?

Right wingers and conservatives vigilant about "family values" were none too pleased with Madonna's breakout hit, "Like a Virgin." Her 1984 performance of the single at the MTV Video Music Awards -- during which the pop star wriggled around stage in a white wedding dress -- certainly didn't help her case.

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"Papa Don't Preach"

Somehow, the 1986 single -- about a teen who intends to keep the child she's having out of wedlock -- angered both the religious right AND Planned Parenthood. The reproductive rights group thought the song espoused anti-abortion views, while Catholics weren't happy about the song's frank acknowledgement of premarital sex.

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"Like a Prayer"

The Catholic church condemned the 1989 hit's video for its intensely iconoclastic images -- including burning crosses, and sex with a saint-like figure. Soon after the video's release, Pepsi backed out of a $5 million deal with Madonna, who had filmed a G-rated commercial for the soft drink a few days prior.

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"Justify My Love"

The incredibly explicit 1990 video for the single takes "NSFW" to a whole new level. The orgy-like video was so racy, MTV banned it. Instead, Madonna took to selling it on VHS for $10 a copy.

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Not-So-Tame Tome

Leave it to Madonna to create an X-rated coffee table book. To accompany her 1992 album, Erotica, the songstress released a book simply called Sex, which features totally nude photographs of her simulating sex acts with fellow celebs like Vanilla Ice, Naomi Campbell and Isabella Rossellini.

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"Ray of Light"

In 1998, the entertainer decided to give the Vatican a break and anger Hindus instead with her MTV VMA "Ray of Light" performance. The World Vaishnava Association spoke out about the sexually explicit routine, for which Madonna had painted her face with holy markings intended to represent purity and devotion to God.

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Pop Princess Pucker

People are still talking about Madonna's 2003 lip-lock with Britney Spears (plus Christina Aguilera) at the Video Music Awards. "Nice moment, good kisser, [it was] cool," Madge told Nightline in January, adding that she wouldn't do it again. "I already did it," she explained. "I don't like to repeat myself."

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Imitation of Christ

The Pope wasn't too pleased with Madonna's 2006 Confessions tour, during which she wore a crown of thorns -- and was "crucified" on a flashy, mirrored cross.

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Deliberate Nip Slip

During her June 2012 show in the relatively conservative, predominantly Muslim nation of Turkey, the Michigan native exposed her breast to the audience while singing her 1995 single, "Human Nature." She repeated the intentional nip slip -- and flashed her buttocks, too! -- at subsequent shows.

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Political in Paris

At her July concert in France, the mother of four aired a video showing an image of a swastika imposed over politician Marine Le Pen, the leader of Le Front National, an ultra-conservative party. After learning of Madonna's move, the group decided to take legal action. "We cannot accept such an odious comparison," the party's Vice President, Florian Philippot, told the AFP. "This is just another provocation in Madonna's world tour so that people will talk about her."

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Capegate

After Madonna took a nasty backwards tumble down a flight of stairs during her 2015 Brit Awards performance, she blamed it on her Giorgio Armani-designed cape. But the Italian designer defended his work and blamed the songstress for wearing the cape tied rather than hooked on its closure. “Madonna, as we all know, is very difficult,” he sniffed to the AP.

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He Begged For It?

After Madonna surprised the crowd at Coachella during an April 2015 performance by kissing a seemingly shocked Drake, the icon dissed the rapper (who is 28 years her junior) during a Q&A with Saturday Night Online, claiming that he begged her to do it. Drake, for his part, told fans via Instagram “Don’t misinterpret my shock!!”

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Textgate

The “Like a Prayer” singer was accused of texting during an off-Broadway performance of Hamilton in April 2015. The show’s Tony-winning composer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda discreetly called out Madonna in a tweet he later deleted after fellow actress and attendee Casey Erin Clark tweeted, “That time you want to smack #Madonna upside the head for texting during the best show I've ever seen. #HAMILTONpublic.” According to her rep, however, Madonna was invited backstage and wasn’t texting until after the show. Jonathan Groff also had some choice words: “That bitch was on her phone. You couldn't miss it from the stage. It was a black void of the audience in front of us and her face there perfectly lit by the light of her iPhone through three-quarters of the show."

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Rebel Hearts

Madonna sparked fresh outrage on social media in Jan. 2015 after she mimicked he cover art from her album Rebel Heart - Photoshopping bondage cords onto the faces of Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela and other icons. “I’m sorry I'm not comparing my self to anyone. I'm admiring and acknowledging [their] Rebel Hearts,” she later clarified to fans on Facebook. “This is neither a crime or an insult or racist! Also did it with Michael jackson and frida khalo and marilyn monroe. Am I saying I am them NO. I'm saying they are Rebel Hearts too."