Madonna Video Nixed by MTV
Madonna‘s latest video, “What It Feels Like for a Girl,” has been rejected for heavy rotation by MTV and its sister company VH1. The networks decided that the content of the four-and-a-half-minute video was too violent, so, aside from a single airing tonight at 11:30 p.m., MTV will not play the video.
Directed in Los Angeles last month by Madonna’s husband Guy Ritchie, who directed the films Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, the video includes a scene in which the singer wraps her car around a lamp pole in what may or may not be a fatal crash.
This is not the first time that Madonna has had a video rejected by MTV. In 1990, the channel refused to show “Justify My Love” because of its steamy images, and in 1992 MTV only showed “Erotica” late at night. This time around the channel expressed concerns about charges of gratuitous violence — particularly after recent criticism directed MTV’s way after a teenage fan burned himself trying to duplicate a stunt he saw on Jackass.
In a press release issued by Madonna’s label, Warner Brothers, the singer contends, “[The video] shows my character acting out a fantasy and doing things girls are not allowed to do. This is an angry song and I wanted a matching visual with an edgy dance mix.”