The way Madonna handled her gaffe with a disabled fan only made it worse

It was bad enough the Queen of Pop calling out wheelchair users for not standing up and dancing. But what she did next was truly obnoxious, writes James Moore

Madonna is nearing the end of her 80-date greatest hits tour (Getty)

Imagine: You’ve been getting into the groove (geddit?) all day ahead of a Madonna show you’ve taken out a second mortgage to be able to see. It is, quite possibly, the highlight of your cultural year.

But then you arrive at the arena, take your place – and the dream swiftly turns into a nightmare. For rather than having the time of your life, you find yourself singled out and humiliated in front of the thousands of other fans there with you, halfway through the show. Your misdemeanour? Not standing up and dancing with sufficient enthusiasm. Because, like me, you can’t. You’re in a wheelchair.

This really happened: on one of her performances during a five-night run at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, Madonna was filmed challenging a fan for sitting down near the front of the stage. The Queen of Pop said into her microphone: “Take this ride with me! What are you doing sitting down over there? What are you doing sitting down?”