Singer sues service for disabling her account after it removes photos and videos of transgender child Mercy
The Instagram account of Madonna has been shut down after she lashed out at the social media service in a series of tweets on Sunday night for removing images of the singer’s adopted daughter, Mercy.
The videos, images and tweets followed an Instagram message posted on Saturday by Madonna announcing the 10-year-old’s adoption from Malawi – the second orphaned child she has taken in after her son, David, now 11.
In the tweet, Madonna – real name Madonna Louise Ciccone – said: “Today I officially became a mama again. Mercy James Ciccone has arrived. Signed adoption papers in Malawi today, on the 9th birthday of my son David Banda.”
The singer revealed in June that she was adopting Mercy, and made headlines around the world after accompanying the child’s former foster mother, Dottie Shilongo, when the infant was being handed over to Malawi’s children’s minister.
Two months later, in July, Madonna posted a picture of Mercy on Instagram, later finding her account had been disabled. Her account was reactivated but the language has since been changed to remove the reference to the one-month-old child.
In her now-deleted tweets, Madonna claimed the situation was nothing more than social media censorship. She wrote: “Too many restrictions & censorship on Instagram and other social media sites. Can we please come up with a better solution. This is wrong!”
“There are so many good reasons my adoption of @MercyJames_OC was taken down. How many more are there? How about some equality?”
“I LOVE my children more than anything. I have always been passionate about social justice, even as a child. We live in a crazy world. How come our voice seems to be the one that has been silenced lately?
“I have a heart of gold and I have to fight for what is right.”
The message appeared to provoke outrage among many of her fans. However, after Madonna deleted her tweets, they have been reposted by news outlets including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
After deleting her tweets, Madonna re-tweeted the message from Dottie Shilongo, the girl she had met in Malawi on her adoption tour.
The Canadian musician Bryan Adams also commented on the incident. “So sad the backlash came… shjoeyberg geez can u just keep your f**king paws off our famous gay celebs.”
David Banda, Madonna’s eldest son, was adopted from Malawi’s Kibera slum in 2009.