Madonna has branded allegations about her diva behaviour in Malawi “ridiculous”.
The ‘Good Girl Gone Wild’ singer hit back at President Joyce Banda’s claims she demanded VIP treatment – including preferential treatment for herself and her entourage at an airport, and an audience with the nation’s leader – during her recent visit to the African country to oversee her charity Raising Malawi, and has accused the president of spreading “lies”.
In a statement released via her charity, the 54-year-old star said: “I’m saddened that Malawi’s President Joyce Banda has chosen to release lies about what we’ve accomplished, my intentions, how I personally conducted myself while visiting Malawi and other untruths. I have no intentions of being distracted by these ridiculous allegations.”
The pop superstar – who has two adopted children from the poverty-stricken country, David and Mercy – went on to insist the political feud would not deter her from continuing with her charity work, which includes building schools to education the nation’s young children.
She wrote: “I came to Malawi seven years ago with honourable intentions. I returned earlier this month [April] to view the new schools we built. I did not ever ask or demand special treatment at the airport or elsewhere during my visit. I will not be distracted or discouraged by other people’s political agendas. I made a promise to the children of Malawi and I am keeping that promise.”
Madonna’s statement comes just 24 hours after Banda’s government released a scathing statement, alleging that the ‘Hung Up’ hitmaker feels her government should have “rolled out a red carpet and blasted the 21-gun salute in her honour because she believes that as a musician, the whiff of whose repute flies across international boundaries, she automatically is a candidate for VIP treatment.”
The singer’s spokesman Trevor Neilson branded the claims “nonsense”, and suggested Madonna was being targeted by the president after removing her sister as the head of the Raising Malawi organisation “due to concerns about mismanagement of R34.2 million”.