Anna Good
63-year-old Madonna’s appearance has been a big topic of discussion of late. Most recently, a TikTok video from the Queen of Pop has gone viral, which many are calling “disturbing.”
The star posted the 13-second video just before the 2022 Grammy Awards on Sunday, April 3. Madonna’s TikTok videos often feature the star using the app’s makeup effects and filters, and it is clear in this clip that she has used a sort of dead-eye effect and a filter that appears as smoke around the video.
Madonna’s looks, with a see-through black top, braided blonde hair, and a lifeless expression, combined with the contents of the video have people talking. In the short video, Madonna stares down the camera and leans forward to pucker her lips in a pretend kiss to the camera.
Many TikTok users posted that the video was “unsettling” and “creepy,” relating her to a monster haunting their nightmares.
One user commented, “Great! How am I supposed to close my eyes and fall asleep now!?”
Some asked “what has she done to herself?” while others said they would remember her as she looked in the 90s, saying, “She was an icon.”
Many of the nastier comments on the video, both on TikTok itself and on social media at large, related to the Queen of Pop’s age, mocking her and telling her to sit down. Still others thought that she was struggling with her mental health, either making off-color jokes or commenting with actual concern.
Folks took to Twitter to clap back at the ageism shown in many of the comments about the 63-year-old icon.
One user replied to a sexist, ageist comment saying, “here is nother guy deciding how women ‘should’ age. Madonna will age the way she wants to age. You can do something worthwhile instead of hating on powerful women.”
Another user said in a brief thread, “Madonna is simultaneously getting mocked for looking/being old, and for having plastic surgery. And being told constantly ‘the right way’ for women to age. The ‘right way’ for anyone to offer their judgmental, unsolicited opinion on someone else’s appearance is to actually stfu.”
Another user noted the vast difference in comments around Madonna and Cher, who is 75 years old and also still performing.