Friday, August 28, 2009

Madonna Booed in Bucharest by Band of Gypsy Haters

Thousands of Romanian concertgoers made their displeasure known with Madonna on Wednesday, after the singer paused her show to speak out against the persecution of Gypsies in that corner of Europe.

"It's been brought to my attention that there's a lot of discrimination against Romani and Gypsies in general in eastern Europe, and that makes me very sad," she told the crowd of 60,000 in Bucharest. As she spoke, a vocal minority began booing her words. She did not acknowledge the jeers. Watch video after the jump.

When she proclaimed, "We believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone!", you can actually hear people yelling "No!", however the cheers of approving fans eventually drowned out the grumbling.

Many of the dancers and musicians in Madonna's show were Gypsies, also known as Roma.
According to the Associated Press, there are some 500,000 Roma in Romania, but the real number could total around 2 million. They have long faced prejudice and discrimination in eastern European nations.

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