Leave Madonna Alone!

Hell hath no fake fury like a blogosphere confronted with Madonna trying to adopt an orphan from the Motherland. It’s as if the Material Mama were some winged she-devil sweeping down on Malawi, armed with moneybags and hell-bent on stealing cute, little black babies. The horror!And so it is with glee that bloggers are reacting…

Hell hath no fake fury like a blogosphere confronted with Madonna trying to adopt an orphan from the Motherland. It’s as if the Material Mama were some winged she-devil sweeping down on Malawi, armed with moneybags and hell-bent on stealing cute, little black babies. The horror!

And so it is with glee that bloggers are reacting to the news that a Malawian judge denied Madonna’s request to adopt Chifundo β€œMercy” James, a preschool-aged girl whose mother died in childbirth. (Madonna is appealing the verdict.) β€œLET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED,” blared the β€œbreaking news” headline on TMZ, β€œMadonna Deniedβ€”Buy Your Babies Elsewhere!!” Then there was this little missive from Nique on Bossip, β€œGood. This heffa needs to worry about getting her life together. Tired of these white folks using these african (sic) kids like accessories!”

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Even Saturday Night Live got into the act, depicting Madonna as a frozen-faced, baby-snatching zombie: β€œI love babies. But I especially love getting babies in crazy places … and Malawi is pretty much the most exotic place to get a baby, a fancy, spicy exotic brown baby. … I’m saving the world, one tiny exotic baby at a time.”

No doubt about it, Madonna’s out-sized, on-display lifeβ€”from the Kabbalah and yoga to the messy divorce to the baby-faced boy toysβ€”makes her a lightning rod for both our fantasies and hostilities. She is; therefore, we mock.

Teresa Wiltz is The Root’s senior culture writer.

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