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Madonna’s Fall at the Brit Awards 2015 Was PR Stunt to Get Publicity and Sympathy

She’s too much of a perfectionist for a wardrobe malfunction

Feb 27, 2015 13:43 GMT  ·  By
Madonna is yanked down some stairs by her Armani cape at the Brit Awards 2015
   Madonna is yanked down some stairs by her Armani cape at the Brit Awards 2015

Madonna performed at this week’s Brit Awards 2015, held in London at the O2 Arena, marking the first time she showed up on stage at the event in 20 years. The performance was memorable for way more than that: like the fact that she was yanked down a set of stairs by one of her backup dancers.

#MadonnaFall began trending shortly after the fall, and is now a hilarious meme, as some of the tweets available below perfectly illustrate. Madonna wasn’t hurt when she was thrown to the ground by the giant Armani cape, and she managed to keep performing after getting up.

So, could it have been just a PR stunt meant to get her publicity and sympathy?

Madonna is a perfectionist, this fall could have never happened

In between fans praising her for being such a pro as to continue performing despite being badly shook up, and those turning the fall into the aforementioned meme, voices can be heard urging us to save our sympathy, because she doesn’t deserve it.

Madonna is simply too much of a perfectionist to forget to untie her cape before the moment one of the backup dancers pulled on it, thus sending her crashing down the stairs. She rehearsed for this performance and she’s always known to go over the same detail repeatedly, to ensure all goes according to (her) plan.

The fall was planned, the Daily Mail also says.

Grab your tinfoil hat, here come the conspiracy theories

As per the British tab, citing commenters on social media, there are several clues that prove Madonna planned the fall to get more mileage out of the performance.

First of all, the fall occurred right after she sang “Took me to heaven and let me fall down,” which allowed her to sing about getting back up, as she was doing precisely that. Secondly, she didn’t seem to be struggling with the straps on her cape, even though she knew someone would pull on it: any other person in the same situation would show signs of distress, but she doesn’t.

The same goes for the actual fall: Madonna is sent flying in the air and lands on her backside, but her face doesn’t move at all. She is not scared and she is not surprised; she doesn’t yell or anything. Some even say that they spotted a smile on her face as she landed.

Speaking of landings, isn’t it weird that she was wearing pants for this performance? Yes, it is, the Mail says: she could have padded them in the backside, to ensure a much softer landing and thus minimize the risk of hurting herself.

“You would have thought it would be easier for Madonna to just show her [backside] for publicity - but she did that at the Grammy’s, didn’t she? Perhaps this was all that was left. Stranger things have happened. She is such a perfectionist that you know she will have rehearsed every last second of that performance, which makes it seem even more unlikely that it could be anything but deliberate,” showbiz veteran Rick Sky says for the Mail.

Planned or not, the fall boosted Madonna’s profile considerably

We might disagree on whether Madonna would plan a fall on stage to get attention or not, but we have no other choice but to accept the reality: the fall boosted her profile considerably.

As noted above, #MadonnaFall was trending on social media, and her single “Living for Love” shot up the charts. The Mail says that interest increased in her older albums as well, and chances are many of those who have seen / heard of the fall know now that she has a new studio material coming out this year.

If Madonna didn’t plan this fall, she should have, because there is no way she could have gotten the same media attention if the performance had been glitch-free.

 
Armani hooked me up! My beautiful cape was tied too tight! But nothing can stop me and love really lifted me up! Thanks for your good wishes! I'm fine! ❤️#livingforlove A photo posted by Madonna (@madonna) on Feb 25, 2015 at 2:50pm PST