Madonna posted a TikTok video that once again has fans around the world talking and speculating about her sexuality. The pop icon posted a video where she attempts to throw underwear into a basket, with text that says: “If I miss, I’m gay.” She then misses the basket.
The 64-year-old did not elaborate on the video, which quickly went viral with nearly 25 million views in one day.
Madonna, whose real name is Madonna Louise Ciccone, has been open about her sexuality in her music and interviews for decades and is seen as a gay icon, often advocating for the LGBTQ community throughout her decadeslong career. In 2019, she won a GLAAD’s Advocate for Change award.
Her career began at the same time as the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and she held a benefit dance marathon, raising money for research of the disease that disproportionately affected the LGBTQ community, according to GLAAD. She also performed at AIDS benefit concerts.
In her 1989 “Like a Prayer” album, she included a leaflet with facts about AIDS, to spread awareness.
She often highlighted the LGBTQ community in her music, featuring several gay dancers in her 1991 documentary “Truth or Dare” and celebrating New York City’s underground ballroom subculture with 1990’s “Vogue.”
She won her first GLAAD Award for Raising Gay Awareness in 1991.
At another GLAAD award ceremony in 2013, she dressed as a Boy Scout to protest the group’s ban on LGBTQ people and she has used her platform to speak out against anti-LGBTQ policies and bullying countless times.
In 2012, Advocate magazine wrote about Madonna’s “nearly 30 years as the greatest gay icon.”
Some fans were confused by the TikTok post, one commenting: “Did Madonna just come out? And I’m witnessing it in real time??” Many others were supportive of the singer. “We are witnessing herstory,” one person commented.
Other people pointed out that Madonna has nodded to bisexuality many times throughout her career, but the first instance is perhaps her 1990 music video for “Justify My Love” during which she kisses both men and women. She also highlighted sex and sexuality in her controversial 1990 coffee table book “Sex,” which included nude sexual photos and gay and lesbian imagery.
The singer has been married twice, to Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie, with whom she has a son Rocco Ritchie, 22. She also shares a daughter with actor Carlos Leon, Lourdes Leon, 25. And she has four adopted children: David Banda, 17, Mercy James, 16, and twins Stella and Estere Ciccone, 10. Her adopted children are originally from Malawi, where she founded the charity Raising Malawi to help provide health and education services and built a children’s hospital.
She has released 14 studio albums and has been nominated for 28 Grammys, winning seven. She has also acted in several films, earning her seven Golden Globes, winning one for best actress for “Evita” in 1997, and one for best song for “Masterpiece” in 2012.
