--- title: Madonna Defends Martin Luther King and Mandela Instagrams description: Instagram users called the altered photos promoting her upcoming album disrespectful canonical: https://time.com/3652829/madonna-martin-luther-king-mandela-instagram-controversy/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-03T19:33:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:15:40.175Z og:title: Madonna Defends Martin Luther King and Mandela Instagrams og:description: Instagram users called the altered photos promoting her upcoming album disrespectful og:url: https://time.com/3652829/madonna-martin-luther-king-mandela-instagram-controversy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Madonna Defends Martin Luther King and Mandela Instagrams twitter:description: Instagram users called the altered photos promoting her upcoming album disrespectful twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Madonna Defends Altered Photos of MLK, Nelson Mandela > Sponsored content. 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Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jan 3, 2015 7:33 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jan 3, 2015 7:33 PM UTC Madonna has [stirred up controversy](http://www.people.com/article/madonna-instagram-rebel-heart-martin-luther-king-jr-nelson-mandela) on Instagram for posting altered images of Nobel Peace Prize laureates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, along with others, to promote her upcoming album _Rebel Heart._ The photos depict the trailblazing leaders with the same kind of black ribbon that covers her face in the album art for _Rebel Heart._ Various Instagram and Twitter users said the pictures of the civil rights icons were disrespectful. One user commented, “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,” [PEOPLE ](http://www.people.com/article/madonna-instagram-rebel-heart-martin-luther-king-jr-nelson-mandela)reported. The singer wrote on Instagram that these images were created by her fans to celebrate [“freedom fighters”](http://instagram.com/p/xYCuOkmEUJ/?modal=true): --- > “” --- She pointed out that she had also shared images of [Princess Diana](http://instagram.com/p/xZeVUimERG/?modal=true) and [John Lennon](http://instagram.com/p/xYCuOkmEUJ/?modal=true). Then in a [Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/madonna/posts/10152996814454402), she further clarified that she is not trying to compare herself to either revered figure: --- > “” --- The album _Rebel Heart_ is due out March 10, 2015. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3652829/madonna-martin-luther-king-mandela-instagram-controversy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3652829/madonna-martin-luther-king-mandela-instagram-controversy/"},"headline":"Madonna Defends Altered Photos of MLK, Nelson Mandela","datePublished":"2015-01-03T19:33:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:15:40.175Z","description":"Instagram users called the altered photos promoting her upcoming album disrespectful","url":"https://time.com/3652829/madonna-martin-luther-king-mandela-instagram-controversy/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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