Hey, Madonna: Vote Republican

By Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times

Oct. 8, 2012 12 AM PT

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of 2011’s cinematic flame-out “W.E.,” Madonna has spent this year kicking up the kind of high-profile controversy that originally made her a star. The singer got into a spat with the dance-music heavyweight Deadmau5 after allegedly asking concertgoers at March’s Ultra Music Festival if they’d taken Ecstasy. The hubbub only increased once Madonna kicked off her latest world tour, which this week stops at Staples Center for shows on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Bared breasts? Nazi iconography? Referring to President Obama as a “black Muslim”? It’s all fair game at a moment in which even established pop icons can have trouble maintaining their positions.

With tickets still available (as of Monday afternoon) for her Staples dates, Pop & Hiss thought we’d recommend a few additional ways the Material Girl might drum up some valuable attention:

• Pick a side in the diva duel reportedly heating up at “American Idol.” These days Madonna seems to have more in common with fire-starting Nicki Minaj, but she does share some pre-Internet roots with Mariah Carey.

• Endorse Mitt Romney. The singer has explained that she was being “ironic” in her Obama comment. Imagine the fireworks, though, if she threw in her lot with the Republican nominee.

• Reveal that she’s purchasing AEG. Maybe they could call the proposed NFL team the Lucky Stars?

•Introduce a new dance number featuring the NFL’s beleaguered temporary referees. She could call it “Like a Wing and a Prayer.”

mikael.wood@latimes.com