Gun control activist and Parkland survivor Emma González said that Madonna’s new music video urging gun control was “horrible” and that the artist doesn’t know how to talk about gun violence.
The video for the song God Control, begins with the words, “The story you are about to see is very disturbing. It shows graphic scenes of gun violence. But it’s happening everyday.”
The music video features the 60-year-old artist in a nightclub along with dozens of others being shot repeatedly by a gunman holding a military-style rifle. The beginning of the video pans around the room of dead and dying people in the scene reminiscent of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, where 49 people were killed.
Another part of the video shows a man put a pistol in his mouth before cutting to a scene inside the bar, bullets flying and people screaming.
González, 19, blasted the gratuitous depictions of violence and death in the video and said that most celebrities don’t know how to correctly handle the issue of gun violence.
“So I’ve been ruminating on this thread for the past few days, make sure I get the words right. Madonna’s new video for her song #GodControl was fucked up, it was horrible,” she said.
“She should have sent out a message warning what her new video contained, ESPECIALLY to the Pulse Victims, ESPECIALLY as it was released Just After the Anniversary on June 12th.
“This is NOT the correct way to talk about gun violence, unlike how many fans have been exclaiming — people who have been working in the GVP community know how to talk about gun violence, not most celebrities. #GodControl
“If you want to support the gun violence prevention movement, donate to the places who need it, in this case the One Pulse Foundation and listen to the actual stories from actual survivors of gun violence,” she said.
She should have sent out a message warning what her new video contained, ESPECIALLY to the Pulse Victims, ESPECIALLY as it was released Just After the Anniversary on June 12th.
— Emma González (@Emma4Change) June 29, 2019
If you want to support the gun violence prevention movement, donate to the places who need it, in this case the One Pulse Foundation and listen to the actual stories from actual survivors of gun violence. #GodControl
— Emma González (@Emma4Change) June 29, 2019
Madonna told CNN around the time that the video was released that she felt an obligation to take a stand on the matter.
“As a mother, I feel even more attached to and protective of children. Do my children go to school safely? No, they cannot,” Madonna said. “Every child that I meet — as a mother you feel responsible for all of the children in the world. It’s really scary to me that any public gathering, any place of worship, any school is a target.”
González was one of the survivors of last year’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Some of the survivor’s like González, David Hogg, and others have become high-profile gun control activists in the aftermath of the shooting, which left 17 students and staff dead.
