Madonna Posts Altered MLK and Mandela Photos, Sparks Outrage

Madonna has sparked outrage over the recent images of Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela that she posted on Instagram. In the photographs, the singer altered the iconic figures to resemble her own album picture.

The album photo, which is on the cover of "Rebel Heart," is zoomed in on Madonna's face, which has black string wrapped around it. In the altered images, King and Mandela also have black string on their faces. Many people have found the images to be highly offensive.
Several of her followers have expressed their distaste:

User beat_abbey wrote: ""To lessen Mandela's and Dr. King's achievements as far as making their faces involuntarily a part of a marketing campaign for some irrelevant pop music is just a huge perception disorder... I'm already unnerved by all this pictures with strings in people's faces. This despair is such a cringe factor. It's a pity."

User elsiebowers wrote: "Officially lost a fan in me...."

Another user wrote, according to the New York Daily News, "The reason that this is disrespectful is because she is putting this so-called art/statement on the faces of those who would by no means do this to themselves if they were alive. She is a wicked witch if I've ever seen one."

Under the altered image of Mandela, Madonna wrote: "This #rebelheart fought for freedom!" The caption that was paired with the picture of King read: "This #rebelheart had a dream!" With Bob Marley's picture, Madonna wrote: "This #rebelheart sang about ONE LOVE!"

The Pop Queen has released a statement late Friday to clarify why she used King and Mandela in her images. She stated that she was not comparing them to herself, but rather, stating that they were all rebels. Madonna stated that she is not a racist and had used other famous faces that were not black, such as Marilyn Monroe and John Lennon. The full statement on Facebook reads:

"I'm sorry
I'm not comparing my self to anyone
I'm admiring and acknowledging there Rebel Hearts
This is niether a crime or an insult or racist!
I also did it with Michael jaclson and frida khalo and marilyn monroe
Am I saying I am them
NO
I'm saying they are Rebel Hearts too.
And
I didn't do it
My fans did
And I just re posted those photos
My fans aren't racist either
If they put me in the same category as these other people
Thank you. I'm very flattered and I hope one day to live up to 1 100th of what those people accomplished." - Madonna