French party to sue Madonna over Nazi image

National Front party plans lawsuit against US singer after concert video depicts party leader with swastika on forehead.

Madonna once again courts controversy in concert
Madonna previously caused controversy while performing a cross in 2006, and for obscene behaviour in 1990 [AFP]

France’s National Front has said that it plans to sue pop star Madonna after the 53-year-old singer showed a video at a Paris concert that contained an image of the party’s leader with a swastika on her forehead.

Sunday’s announcement comes a week into the iconic performer’s MDNA World Tour, which had displayed the image of Marine Le Pen several times at previous concerts.

The party had previously warned they would pursue legal action if the image was broadcast during the singer’s stop in France on Saturday night at the Stade de France.

Alain Vizier, National Front spokesman, said Sunday that the party would file a complaint in French court next week for “insults”.

In the video, party leader Marine Le Pen is briefly pictured during a montage in which famous faces morph into each other.

Soon after, Le Pen’s face flashes up, and then the singer’s own follows with Hitler’s mustache.

Le Pen, who inherited control of the party from her father, Jean-Marie, has tried to shed the National Front’s image as racist and anti-Semitic, especially during her recent failed bid for president.

No stranger to controversy while on tour, Madonna’s shows have previously come under attack.

Most recently during her 2006 Confessions Tour, the singer was seen performing her 1986 single Live to Tell while hanging from a cross and donning a crown of thorns.

Her most notable concert controversy, however, came during her Blond Ambition World Tour, when the singer faced arrest for “obscene behaviour” during the May 29, 1990, show at Toronto’s Skydome.

Source: News Agencies