page_title: Blond Ambition World Tour
section_title: Controversies
hierarchical_section_title: Blond Ambition World Tour / Controversies
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo taken during one of the 1990 concerts
context_page_description: The Blond Ambition World Tour was the third concert tour by American singer Madonna. It supported her fourth studio album Like a Prayer, and the soundtrack album to the 1990 film Dick Tracy, I'm Breathless. Originally planned as the "Like a Prayer World Tour", it was supposed to be sponsored by soft drink manufacturer Pepsi, who signed a US$5 million deal with Madonna to feature her and her then upcoming single "Like a Prayer" on a television commercial. The music video for "Like a Prayer", which featured Catholic images such as stigmata, burning crosses and a dream scene about making love to a saint, received condemnation from the Vatican. Religious groups sought to ban the commercial and called for a boycott of Pepsi products and subsidiaries, leading the company to withdraw the commercial and cancel Madonna's sponsorship contract. The Blond Ambition World Tour was officially announced by Sire Records on November 1989.
context_section_description: The Blond Ambition World Tour was subject to controversy due to its sexual and catholic imagery. In Italy, a private association of Roman Catholics called for a boycott of the shows in Rome and Turin; Pope John Paul II urged the general public and the Christian community not to attend the tour, calling it "one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity". The Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano deemed it "sinful, blasphemous" and "a complete disgrace", while the Famiglia Domani, a private association of conservative Catholics, criticized its eroticism and called it "shameful". Madonna held a press conference in Rome's Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport defending herself and the tour: "I am Italian American and proud of it ... The tour in no way hurts anybody's sentiments. It's for open minds and gets them to see sexuality in a different way. Their own and others [...] Like theater, [Blond Ambition] asks questions, provokes thought and takes you on an emotional journey, portraying good and bad, light and dark, joy and sorrow, redemption and salvation". Nonetheless, the protests had effect and a planned second show in the city's Stadio Flaminio was cancelled due to low ticket sales and a threatened general strike by labor unions. Roman newspaper Il Messaggero dismissed the controversy with a lukewarm review; "A lot of noise over nothing", read the headline.
  In Toronto, the tour's explicit overtone also caused problems. During the first show at the city's SkyDome on May 27, the crew received a visit from the local police who threatened to arrest the singer for "lewd and indecent display", specifically the masturbation scene during the performance of "Like a Virgin". However, according to Rolling Stone, no charges were made after the tour's manager gave the police an ultimatum: "Cancel the show, and you'll have to tell 30,000 people why." The show was unaltered and Madonna began the concert by asking the crowd "do you believe in freedom of expression?", and later issued a statement saying she was willing to be arrested to protect her freedom to "express myself as an artist". Frank Bergen, a Toronto police officer at the time, recalled that the claims were led by a retired police officer and a crown attorney with a "strong position" against Madonna and the tour. He also said despite the police being depicted as "being real knobs" on the Madonna: Truth or Dare documentary, he felt they weren't acting that way. Kevin Stea, one of the dancers, said the troupe was willing to be arrested over the performance, calling it "the most powerful moment I ever felt with Madonna. As a team we were all together".
caption: In Toronto, local police threatened to arrest Madonna over the performance of "Like a Virgin", in which she simulated masturbation
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