Bits and pieces of Madonna’s speech during this weekend’s Women’s March on Washington went viral. In particular, Madonna expressing that she thought “an awful lot about blowing up the White House” gained wide spread exposure.
The controversial singer took to social media to address her speech as a whole, saying that it was taken out of context.
“I came and performed Express Yourself and thats exactly what i did,” said Madonna. “I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it’s important people hear and understand my speech in it’s entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context.”
Madonna continued, “My speech began with ‘I want to start a revolution of love.’ I then go on to take this opportunity to encourage women and all marginalized people to not fall into despair but rather to come together and use it as a starting point for unity and to create positive change in the world.
I spoke in metaphor and I shared two ways of looking at things — one was to be hopeful, and one was to feel anger and outrage, which I have personally felt. However, I know that acting out of anger doesn’t solve anything. And the only way to change things for the better is to do it with love.”
Watch Madonna’s full speech below.