On Thursday, Chuck D posted to X (formerly known as Twitter) to defend Madonna against trolls making ageist comments about her performance during her career-spanning Celebration Tour.
“At 63 i know i can bike better than i ever did and Pilates aint easy but i give it to @Madonna for pushing the bars,” D said of the legendary pop star. “[Public Enemy rapper] @FlavorFlav is taking Pilates too and he’s 64. So ageism sometimes gets like racism both ways if you let it.”
D added: “For anyone over 50 the rule is either you do the songs or the songs do you. @Madonna has some hard songs to perform in her catalogue.”
While it’s unclear what exactly prompted the “Fight the Power” rapper to make the post, another user’s tweet went viral on Wednesday featuring a video of Madonna gripping a bar while dancing with the caption: “I’m glad to see that Madonna has a grab bar so she doesn’t fall.”
Madonna and Public Enemy’s careers have been intertwined over the years.
The Queen of Pop’s 1990 greatest hits album, The Immaculate Collection, featured the track “Justify My Love,” which samples a beat that had previously appeared in the Public Enemy song “Security in the First World.”
Written by Lenny Kravitz and Ingrid Chavez, the classic includes a drum sample from PE’s “Security of the First World” from the fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ landmark 1988 It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back album, per EW.
The “Frozen” singer has yet to publicly respond to D’s comment.
After postponing her highly anticipated string of shows, the “Vogue” artist kicked off her long-awaited Celebration Tour — which commemorates the 40th anniversary of her debut album — at London’s O2 Arena in October.
The tour features an international run of 78 shows, where she’s traveling from Europe to North America through April 2024, before closing where she first launched into stardom: New York City.
“I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” she said in a press release when the Celebration Tour was initially announced in January 2023.
The initial tour dates were postponed following Madonna’s hospitalization in June 2023 for a serious bacterial infection, which her longtime manager Guy Oseary confirmed in a June 28 Instagram post.
“On Saturday June 24, Madonna developed a serious bacterial infection which [led] to a several day stay in the ICU. Her health is improving, however she is still under medical care. A full recovery is expected,” Oseary said in the Instagram post. “At this time we will need to pause all commitments, which includes the tour.”
The morning following Oseary’s post, PEOPLE confirmed Madonna had returned home and was continuing her recovery. “She’s feeling better and following doctor’s orders and resting,” said a source close to the singer.
