People Really Want Madonna to Stand Up for Pussy Riot This Week in Moscow

By Doug Barry | August 5, 2012 | 6:30pm

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All those fretful onlookers worried that members of the punk collective Pussy Riot will be locked away in prison for seven years have turned their attention to Madonna, who will give a concert in Moscow this week and who some observers believe will offer a strong show of support to the jailed punk rockers. It would make sense — Pussy Rioters Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich are facing charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, and Madonna has, over the course of her career, often been eager to criticize and upset the Catholic Church. Who better to arrive in Moscow and take a strong stance on Pussy Riot’s plight than Madonna, right?

Except, Madonna hasn’t said anything about the controversy other than saying that she was sorry the members of Pussy Riot had been arrested. Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and all the members of Franz Ferdinand have all been very vocal in their support of Pussy Riot, but there are a lot of people campaigning for the band’s release that think Madonna, as a controversy-seeking missile woman, shares so much in common with Pussy Riot’s penchant for civil disobedience that an endorsement from the pop star would carry a lot of symbolic weight. No pressure or anything, but it seems like people will be expecting Madonna to say something about Pussy Riot when she takes the stage this week.