Madonna Is Not Banned Just Irrelevant Claims BBC Radio Boss

Fans of pop icon Madonna will be well aware of the recent furore over BBC Radio 1‘s refusal to play Madonna’s latest release on the station. Madonna was infuriated when she learned that her latest single, “Living For Love,” would not be on the radio station’s play list. The 56-year-old star accused the BBC of age discrimination over the issue.

According to Yahoo! Celebrity Madonna told The Sun how “shocked” and upset she was about the BBC‘s stance.

“When I heard, I was shocked. I was like, ‘Wait a second. Shouldn’t it be to do with whether you wrote a good, catchy pop song’? I thought it was so discriminatory and unfair. We’ve made so many advances in other areas, civil rights, gay rights, but ageism is still an area that’s taboo and not talked about and dealt with.”

In a move that is sure to enrage Madonna fans further, Radio 1 boss Ben Cooper denied that there was any age bias behind the decision not to play Madonna’s music on the station. According to the Telegraph 45-year-old Ben refused to play Madonna’s single simply because “it wasn’t very good.” Ben also claimed that he was a fan of Madonna but that her music was no longer relevant.

“I love Madonna. I’ve been to see her concerts several times, and I’ve bought several of her records. I’ve even got a signed front cover of The Face magazine that she was on, on my wall, there’s nothing personal about Madonna. It’s just about the merit of the music an artist is creating at the time. We haven’t banned Madonna.”

Ben Cooper went on to claim that Madonna was no longer relevant to the station’s young audience, He claimed that the BBC’s playlist committee was the most democratic in the world and that this has worked in Madonna’s favor in the past. Cooper explained that, if it came down to a choice between playing Madonna or a fresh and upcoming artist like UK band Wolf Alice, then they had to consider what was more relevant to their audience.

Cooper went on to say that, if Madonna wanted airplay on the station, she simply needed to come up with “better material.” The Belfast Telegraph pointed out that Paul McCartney, who is Madonna’s senior by 16 years has recently been on the stations play list and that 74-year-old presenter Annie Nightingale still has a weekly show.

What do Inquisitr readers think of Madonna’s new music? Is Madonna still relevant or should Madonna be relegated to the classic rock music stations?

[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]