Madonna: France is now like Nazi Germany

MADONNA yesterday stumbled into fresh controversy by comparing today’s France to Nazi Germany.

Speaking out against antiSemitism and racism in France, the singer described the situation as ‘scary’, claiming that the country had lost its tradition of welcoming foreigners and making them feel at home.

During an interview, Madonna claimed that anti-Semitism was at a record level in France – where at least 90,000 Jews were rounded up and sent to the death camps during the Second World War.

She told a Paris radio station: ‘We’re living in crazy times. It feels like Nazi Germany.

‘France was once a country that accepted people of colour, a place artists escaped to, whether it was [entertainer] Josephine Baker or [saxophonist] Charlie Parker.

‘It was a country that embraced everyone and encouraged free- dom in every way, shape or form of artistic expression of freedom. Now that’s completely gone.’

Fresh from the incident in which she fell on stage at the Brit Awards in London this week, the 56-year old renewed her attack on France’s far-Right National Front party, calling them ‘fascist’.

Madonna has previously criticised the party, which won 25 per cent of the vote at local and European elections last year.

Renewing her stance – albeit getting the name of its leader, Marine Le Pen incorrect – she yesterday spoke of ‘receiving a l ot of criticism and threats from Marie (sic) Le Pen’. The star’s past attempts at political comment have caused controversy in France.

In a backing video on stage during her 2012 tour, she displayed an image of Miss Le Pen with a swastika superimposed on her forehead.

Miss Le Pen threatened to sue and the Nazi symbol, which Madonna had also displayed on stage in Israel, was removed to avoid court action.

Yesterday Madonna, who until recently was in a relationship with French dancer Brahim Zaibat, said: ‘What I said two years ago is valid today. It’s not just in France, it’s all over Europe. But particularly in France. The level of intolerance... is scary.’

Speaking after her fall on stage on Wednesday night, she said: ‘I had a little bit of whiplash, I smacked the back of my head.’

‘We’re living in

crazy times’