The legendary rapper Chuck D took to X/Twitter on Thursday morning to defend Queen of Pop Madonna against ageism. The 63-year-old rapper had a word or two for the trolls criticizing the 65-year-old “Material Girl” singer’s dancing abilities at her age.
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Posting on X, Chuck compared ageism to racism—which is baffling because everyone gets older but not everyone gets older while Black.
“At 63 i know i can bike better than i ever did and Pilates aint easy but i give it to @Madonna for pushing the bars,” he wrote.
“@FlavorFlav is taking Pilates too and hes 64,” Chuck continued. “So ageism sometimes gets like racism both ways if you let it. For anyone over 50 the rule is either you do the songs or the songs do you. @Madonna has some hard songs to perform in her catalogue.”
The rapper’s came after a clip went viral that shows Madonna dancing during a performance while holding a bar behind her so she doesn’t fall. It’s a little disturbing to see considering that Madonna has a history of posting weird clips on social media over the last few years in attempts to hold onto her youth.
That includes her appropriating hip-hop culture to be seen as edgy and provocative. Yes, of course women artists are subjected to ridiculous levels of ageism. However, she looks visibly uncomfortable in these circulating clips. Madonna doesn’t need all of the ornate bells and whistles to enjoy her prolific career—she just needs to sing the hits.
In addition, Chuck D’s heart may be in the right place but comparing racism to ageism just ain’t it. The rapper is brilliant and has built a career off of his insight and wisdom. Unfortunately this time, it seems he fell drastically short.
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