In one of the many Instagram “vignettes” posted in late Summer 2020 of Madonna’s screenwriting workshops with Diablo Cody, there is a moment where she says, “I mean this is like the precursor to Wet Ass Pussy, let’s face it… I just remember the word, like, the ‘antichrist’ or the ‘devil,’ I don’t know. ‘The Antichrist of Pop Music.’” She then mock-laughs like Satan as she continues about her spitballing process with Cody.
Whatever part of her biopic she was reminiscing upon (it could have been a discussion of the “Justify My Love” backlash or the Erotica era backlash—shit, it could have even been about that more innocent moment when she writhed on the floor at the VMAs to “Like A Virgin” in ’84… there are just so many sexual ways that Madonna caused offense to choose from), it can’t be doubted that these lines of hers to Cody perfectly sum up what They’ve (namely, the right-wing) been saying about Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video. And, more to the point, what all the conservatives—particularly the Catholic Church—said when Madonna danced among burning crosses and got freaky deaky with a Black saint in the “Like A Prayer” video. Gasp! Desecration. Gasp! Miscegenation (a word choice used very deliberately by white supremacists).
Because people seem to evermore forget about all the boundaries Madonna broke just so they could have the freedom to make their inane, “sexually charged” TikTok videos, it’s important to highlight that a video such as Lil Nas X’s (and the aforementioned “WAP”—at least lyrically—for that matter) would be undergoing far more condemnation at this time were it not for Madonna’s fearless ability to constantly push buttons from the start of her career. And, contrary to popular belief, Madonna was never about scandal for scandal’s sake. It always served a higher purpose of highlighting the so-called moral majority’s own phobias and prejudices—most especially with regard to “Like A Prayer.”
Lil Nas X has picked up where Madonna left off (and also kind of where Lana Del Rey left off in the Garden of Eden portion of Tropico), incorporating his own Eve-less Eden into the mix before descending into the depths of hell (via stripper pole) to give Satan a lap dance and take over the throne. As Madonna endured headline after headline of a public lashing without the wonders of social media to speak for herself (again, another way in which no one has ever sought “Justice For Madonna” in all these “vintage” instances of female abuse in the entertainment industry), Lil Nas X has been largely praised for his bravery in taking down another wall—the absence of which helps “queer people to simply exist.”
Something Madonna also helped work toward throughout her own oeuvre (especially Truth or Dare, which came out at a time when AIDS-phobic behavior was still at a peak). As Lil Nas X seeks to “dismantle the throne of judgment and punishment that has kept many of us from embracing our true selves out of fear,” so, too, has Madonna set this precedent in modern pop culture. And without the beatings she took to minimize the ones doled out in the present, it’s debatable whether a video like “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” would even exist—complete with a nod to Madonna’s 1990 VMA performance of “Vogue.”
And, speaking of fans (literal as opposed to celebrity worshippers), Lil Nas X snagged one of Madonna’s when he caught the Madame X Tour at the Wiltern back in that blissful blip of 2019 before corona popped off. “I wanna fuck the ones I envy,” Lil Nas X sings passionately, perhaps even referring to M herself (#fluidity). After all, he showed up to the front row of her concert, where the two chatted and she asked, “Are you here for the short distance or the long distance?” He declares, “Long.” She approves, “Okay. Work hard. Earn it, baby.” He assures, “I promise you I will.” She, spurring him to prove he can carry the torch of controversy all the more, replies, “I’ll be watching you.” Hopefully close enough to realize there’s certainly no denying a mashup of “Like A Prayer” (with the appropriately blendable lyric, “When you call my name…”) with “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” is essential. And after all, both songs have signaled “really making it” thanks to the conservative outrage that has resulted.
