Madonna's Manchester outburst
Singer defends herself following expletive rant at fans
Madonna has defended herself from critics after she labelled her fans “diva bitches'' and told them to “shut the f*** up'' at her Manchester concert.
The Queen of Pop took to the stage on Monday evening at the Manchester Arena as part of her Rebel Heart tour, but apparent technical hitches led to delays.
She told the crowd: “I just want to thank you all for waiting. My lateness tonight is due - I don't like to be late, by the way. All right? And all you bitches who keep complaining about it, just shut the f*** up.''
The statement was met by a mixture of boos and cheers from the audience.
The 57-year-old added: “I'm not back there eating chocolate and filing my nails and getting my extensions done all right?
“Tonight, our video crashed, and we had no video, and our back-up file was – I don't know - it was compromised, put it like that... So praise the Lord and thank you God but that is why we are late, all right? For no selfish diva b**** reason.
“If you diva b*s want to keep complaining about it, then don't come to my show.”
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, she explained more about the apparent technical issues.
She wrote: “FACTS: It's good to have them before you jump to conclusions! The Entire video for my show crashed as I arrived for sound check. The back up file was corrupt. We had no choice but to reboot and pray for a good outcome. The video lights 75% of my show. We can't play in the dark.
“We were rebooted and ready by 9:30 even though we planned to go on earlier. I had to make cuts in show before show started. Dress you Up was one of them and my 3rd guitar song. This still brought us past the 11:00 curfew! But we went on and the venue was kind enough to extend till 11:39!!
“It was their choice not mine to end the show!! always want to finish. So we all missed the last 3 songs! And I'm sorry about that. And i thank all my Rebel Heart fans for understanding! We did our best! And we still had to pay a fine! That’s life.”
She added that only 12 minutes of the set had been missed.