The wheelchair-bound fan who was called out by Madonna for not standing at a concert broke her silence, saying she doesn't resent the Queen of Pop.
"Some people are in wheelchairs and can stand — she had no idea I was paralyzed," Vanessa Gorman told TMZ.
Gorman, paralyzed in a 1999 motor vehicle accident, said she was surprised that Madonna didn't initially notice her bright pink wheelchair. Gorman praised Madonna for the quick apology.
The incident gathered attention after fan videos from the concert circulated on social media. In the video footage, Madonna is heard saying, "What are you doing sitting down over there?" while pointing into a cheering crowd. "What are you doing sitting down?" she repeats before walking to the edge of the stage and taking a closer look.
"Oh, OK. Politically incorrect, sorry about that. I'm glad you're here," Madonna said after realizing the fan was wheelchair-bound.
Footage of the incident soon went viral, drawing widespread backlash against Madonna, who is currently on her "Celebration Tour," which was initially delayed because she was hospitalized for a "serious bacterial infection."
During a recent performance at the Los Angeles' Kia Forum, Madonna opened up about the "near-death experience" and a conversation she had with God after waking up from a four-day induced coma.
"I'm pretty sure that was God saying to me, Do you want to come? Want to come up with me? No," Madonna said, according to People, while revealing that the "first word" she said was "No" when she woke up from the coma.
She later recalled a conversation she had with her longtime manager, Guy Oseary, while in the hospital.
"He said, 'Well, when do you think you want to go back on tour?' I took the oxygen out of my nose. I looked at him, and I said, 'In two [expletive] months!" she said. "I just said it. Sometimes you just have to say [expletive] and put it out in the universe. And it happens."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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