Madonna Shows Sam Smith 'Love' Amid Backlash From Gloria Tour

Madonna has shown support for fellow artist Sam Smith amidst criticism of their ongoing Gloria Tour. Despite facing ongoing hostility for openly expressing their queerness, they defiantly added Madonna's iconic 1994 single "Human Nature" to their setlist, catching undue attention from critics.

After taking notice of Smith's honor to her, the pop icon, who has long been an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, took to social media to share a clip of the performance. In it, Smith took the stage in a bold outfit of sparkling briefs, fishnet stockings, and nipple tassels, delivering a powerful rendition of her iconic lyrics:

"Oops, I didn't know I couldn't speak my mind. I'm not sorry, it's just my human nature."

Madonna expressed her appreciation by captioning it with "Love you, Sam." The 64-year-old's vote of confidence is coming off the heels of the criticisms the 30-year-old has faced for their performances on the Gloria tour that started this week.

According to Dailymail, the singer, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, has been accused of using religious imagery in their shows, which some have deemed as "satanic" and "sexualized." 

During the tour, they were seen wearing provocative outfits such as red devil horns, sheer veils, and wire crowns and also appeared on stage clutching a sequined red pitchfork while fires blazed around them during the band's performance.

After videos circulated online, critics quickly condemned it as excessively sexual and satanic. The publication shared some of the comments that surfaced, including some stating, "This whole performance is satanic!" and "The rest of us don't want satanic erotica!" Another noted:

"He's taking entertainment to extreme levels! When you have the voice, I don't understand the need to sexualize a performance like that." 

It is clear from the events on their tour that they ignored all the criticisms they received earlier after their 2023 Grammy Award ceremony performance which also contained religious imagery. The award-winning hit "Unholy" sung by Smith featuring Kim Petras suggested by its name that it would include a provocative performance.

However, there seems to be a limit to what people could take, not including the fact that their segment was sponsored by Pfizer, which to some was unforgivable. In an eye-catching red ensemble complete with a top hat adorned with devil horns, Smith took to the stage alongside Petras for a thrilling show filled with religious depictions and what some called "debauchery."

Following the performance, many opined about it, like this person who described it as a "demonic performance" and even brought up the "satanic cult," writing, "And the Satanic church now has an abortion clinic in NM that requires its patients to perform a satanic ritual before services."

Another stated, "To make matters worse, the Grammys award show that featured Sam Smith's debauchery was sponsored by none other than Pfizer." Someone else asked, "What happened to "that" Sam Smith(Grammys 2016)!??" adding, "What happened in the last 6 years?! Clearly something not normal!"

This follower believed there were more significant issues to focus on, such as the prevalence of school shootings.

In January, The Blast reported that the "Unholy" singer opened up about facing a distressing incident after publicly coming out as non-binary in 2019. This came after years of struggling with their gender identity, describing it as a "lifetime of being at war," however, the revelation was not received well by everyone.

During an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, they shared that although they did not face any issues with their gender identity in their personal life, it was a different story in public.

Smith then recalled that they were subjected to harassment and even "spat at" on the streets of England. They said, "I think all the only negatives in the struggle have been in my public life and my job. And just the amount of hate and sh**ness that came my way was just exhausting."

The "Stay with Me" singer continued, "It was in the f**king news. Someone spat at me in the street. It's crazy. What I find hard about it is it's like, if that's happening to me and I'm famous, I'm a pop star, can you imagine what other kids, like queer kids, are feeling?"