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Madonna performs Aug. 18 during a concert in Zurich, Switzerland.

LOS ANGELES — Madonna, who had already voiced her support for the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, on Saturday joined a chorus of celebrities in slamming a jail sentence handed down in Moscow to three women from the group over a protest against President Vladimir Putin. 

"I protest the conviction and sentencing of Pussy Riot to a penal colony for two years for a 40-second performance extolling their political opinions," Madonna said in a statement.

The three women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were convicted in a Russian court of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for performing a "punk prayer" in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral in which they called on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.

The two-year sentence handed down against the three women on Friday has generated outrage outside of Russia, but within the country polls have shown that few Russians sympathize with them.

Judge Marina Syrova told the Moscow court on Friday, "The girls' actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church's rules." She rejected their argument that they had no intention of offending Russian Orthodox believers.

Madonna had previously expressed her support for the band after they were arrested.

In her latest statement, Madonna said the two-year sentence was "too harsh and in fact is inhumane."

"They've spent enough time in jail. I call on all of Russia to let Pussy Riot go free," she said.

On Friday, the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the sentences given to the women were "disproportionate" to the crime, and European nations and the United States voiced similarly sharp criticism.

So did Canadian rock star Bryan Adams, actor Adrian Grenier and Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney, who vowed to not play a show in Russia over what he described as its move to "imprison innocent musicians for speaking their minds peacefully."

British singers Sting and Paul McCartney have also shown support for the Pussy Riot band. 

Dave J Hogan / Getty Images

Madonna performs during her MDNA Tour at The NIA Arena in Birmingham, England, on July 19.

Gun-wielding, nipple-baring, swastika-flashing Madonna has a new person to add to her list of detractors. Or rather, an old one: Elton John.

The "Rocket Man" singer has once again fired up his ongoing feud with the controversy-courting pop star, slamming her for her on- and offstage antics while labeling her a "[expletive] fairground stripper."

Oof.

Elton John's not-so-friendly Super Bowl advice to Madonna

During an interview with Australian TV show "Sunday Night," John bristled at the mere mention of Madonna's name, saying, "She's such a nightmare. Her career's over."

He didn't stop there, later ranting that "she looks like a [expletive] fairground stripper."

"If Madonna had any common sense she would have made a record like 'Ray of Light'," he reportedly added, "and stayed away from the dance stuff and just been a great pop singer and make great pop records, which she does brilliantly."

John's beef seemed to stem from Madonna's various digs at Lady Gaga, who is the godmother of his and husband David Furnish's 19-month-old son, Zachary.

David Furnish slams Madonna's Golden Globe win

In May, Madonna performed a curious mash-up of "Born This Way" and "Express Yourself" that many saw as a sharp jab at Mama Monster.

"[Madonna's] been so horrible to Gaga," John told "Sunday Night."

John's feud with Madge goes back to 2004, when -- while accepting an award onstage -- he accused her of lip-syncing.

He dissed her again earlier this year during an interview with "Good Morning America," in which he offered some advice to Madge as she prepped for her performance at the Super Bowl halftime show.

"Make sure you lip-sync good," he said.

All right, Madge: Your move.

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Guy Oseary / AP

Madonna performs in Paris.

Madonna has finally shed a ray of light on controversy surrounding her recent concert in Paris that saw outraged fans screaming “refund” last Thursday. 

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The live concert at Paris’ Olympia concert venue, scheduled as an unexpected extra stop on the singer’s "MDNA" tour, lasted for just 45 minutes, much to the dismay of fans camped outside for hours and days before the show and the thousands of people watching the concert live on YouTube. However, according to Madonna’s spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg, the Material Girl’s last-minute concert wasn’t meant to be a full show, but rather one of a handful of “club dates” that, in the past, “were never more than 45 minutes.”

PHOTOS: Madonna: Iconic career and life in pictures

Rosenberg said that, rather than being a snub to French audiences, the show “was her way to honor her love for French artists, French cinema and a tribute to France’s long history of welcoming and inspiring artists, authors, painters, poets and minorities from other countries over the years.”

According to Rosenberg, the show cost the pop star almost $1 million to produce and involved a “tremendous effort” on the part of organizers to keep ticket prices at a “reasonable” range. “The show was not billed as her full 'MDNA' concert,” Rosenberg said.

VIDEO: Madonna projects swastika on French politician Marine Le Pen's face during concert

Despite the cries of “refund!” and boos from the crowd when Madonna left the stage at the end of the show, the concert was actually meant as a peace offering to France after the singer angered right wing party leader Marine Le Pen by showing a video of her face with a swastika juxtaposed on it at a July 14 show in the French capital, though the singer's longtime rep did not directly address a recent report that a near-riot was sparked by Le Pen supporters. The show was “planned as a heartfelt thank you to France,” Rosenberg explained, adding: “And by the way, she put on a fabulous show which was streamed for millions of fans around the world.”

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David Moir / REUTERS

Madonna performing in Edinburgh, Scotland.

French fans took Madonna’s “Express Yourself” lyrics seriously on Thursday night when they booed and expressed anger at the singer for cutting her show at famed Paris concert hall l’Olympia short after around just 45 minutes.

Madonna faces lawsuit from right wing party leader after Paris concert (video)

After Madonna left the stage, fans remained in their seats booing and yelling insults like “salope,” the French word for “slut.”

PHOTOS: Madonna's iconic career and life in pictures

Madonna took the stage around 10:15 p.m. and finished around 11 p.m.

The concert venue was filled mostly with big Madonna fans since the tickets for the show were available only to members of her official fan club before being released for sale to the general public. The concert was broadcast live via YouTube.

The supplementary concert was added to the singer’s tour just last week and was sold out after just a few hours, with Material Girl devotees paying from 80 to more than 280 euros for the limited seats. Hundreds of fans gathered outside several hours before the show to fill the Olympia’s 2,700 seats and many slept on the streets overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. After the show, many of them gathered in the streets in front of the theater and yelled “remboursez! remboursez!” which means “give us our money back!” in French.

VIDEO: Madonna faces lawsuit from right wing party leader after Paris concert

Several fans expressed their discontentment on Twitter late into the night. One fan wrote in French “280€ for a seat + 10 minutes of a speech + 40 minutes of a show + 2 days of camping in front of the #Olympa = #Madonna #MDNA #Paris #thatsucks” and another wrote also in French “#Madonna 45min/250€ vs @springsteen 3h40/65€ ... what’s the better deal, there’s nothing left to say! #MDNAOlympia.” Another wrote: “How much does it cost to see Madonna at l’Olympia? It’s 6.3 euros per minute!”

Her loyal fans aren't the only ones angry at the pop star. A July 14 concert at the Stade de France incurred the wrath of French right-wing politician Marine Le Pen, who is pressing charges after Madonna screened a video featuring a photo of Le Pen’s face with a swastika superimposed on it.

STORY: Madonna: 'It's not my intention to make enemies'

Madonna also took a moment during the show to respond to Le Pen. “I know that I made a certain Marine Le Pen very angry with me. And it’s not my intention to make enemies,” Madonna told the crowd before adding, “It’s my intention to promote tolerance. And when we start saying that we have to get rid of this person or we have to get rid of that person, because then we’ll have a better place, it starts to sound like something else, it starts to sound like something scary. So the next time you want to point the finger at somebody and blame them for a problem in your life, take that finger and point it back at you.”

The singer will next perform in France on Aug. 21, in Nice.

Watch video of the scene posted online by a fan below.

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Ian Gavan / Getty Images

Madonna pointed a gun at her head during a Tuesday performance in London's Hyde Park as part of her MDNA act.

The Material Girl keeps pulling out the props on stage. While Rome caught an eyeful of her backside, and Paris was treated to a nipple the other night, Madonna and her dancers flashed big shiny guns on stage in London's Hyde Park, during Monday's stop on her increasingly controversial MDNA tour.

And when we say guns we don't mean their arms.

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Obviously the uproar over Lindsay Lohan's recent girl-next-door-with-gun photo shoot wasn't foremost on Madonna's mind when she pressed her revolver to her temple.

Sigh...

Packing presumably unloaded heat is nothing new for the pop icon, who brandished an AK-47 assault rifle during a show in Tel Aviv in May and brought out the smaller gun for effect while performing "Gang Bang." (Ironically, she brought out the rifle during "Revolver.")

But, what do you know, making gestures suggestive of self-harm aren't really in favor these days.

After Lohan's second photo shoot this year featuring her and a gun (but the first in which she pointed it toward her open mouth), the national suicide hotline Hopeline told E! News, "When a celebrity uses suicide and specifically the means to do it as a joke, it is grossly irresponsible and is a disgrace. It also must be met with an immediate rebuke from the mental-health community. This is no joking matter. Lives are at stake."

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France's far right National Front will sue Madonna after she screened footage of party leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika superimposed on her face at a concert in Paris on Saturday, a party official said.

The video shown on a huge screen has already been used on other legs of the U.S. singer's tour and shows the singer's face merging with other public figures, such as Pope Benedict and former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by popular protests last year.

Slideshow: Madonna

Evan Agostini / AP

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The face of the National Front leader appears for a few seconds, with the Fascist symbol briefly imposed on it, and is followed by the features of a man resembling Adolf Hitler.

"A private plaintiff's case for insult will be presented next week," Florian Philippot, vice-president of the National Front, told Reuters.

He called the images an "unacceptable" provocation for attempting to associate Le Pen, who won 18 percent of the vote in April's first-round presidential election in France, with fascism.

Since taking the reins of the National Front last year from her ex-paratrooper father Jean-Marie, Le Pen has tried to widen her party's appeal by expelling extremists and cracking down on racist talk and anti-Semitism.

"It is our duty to bring a complaint to defend our voters and our supporters," Philippot said.

Although Le Pen's calls for protectionism and for France's to exit the euro currency have won sympathy with some parts of the electorate, the party won only two seats in the 577-member National Assembly in last month's legislative elections, partly due to France's first-past-the-post electoral system.

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WMG

Madonna in the video for "Vogue."

Better late than never? Perhaps that's what execs at VMG, a company out of Delaware, were thinking when they filed suit Wednesday against Madonna and her record label over the 1990 hit "Vogue," claiming the pop icon sampled portions of a composition called "Love Break," which was released around 1977.

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In the suit, the company claims, "The portions of 'Love Break,' which have been copied into 'Vogue' and all its various 'mixes,' 'remixes' videos, YouTube versions, etc. are numerous but intentionally hidden. The horn and strings in Vogue are intentionally sampled from 'Love Break' throughout."

Music producer Richard "Shep" Pettibone, who was originally hired by VMG to remix various editions of "Love Break" and later worked on "Vogue," is also mentioned in the suit, with the company claiming Pettibone "intentionally disguised the sampling he did in 'Vogue.'"

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Slideshow: Madonna

Evan Agostini / AP

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"The unauthorized sampling was deliberately hidden by (Madonna) within "Vogue" so as to avoid detection. It was only when VMG specifically looked for the sample, with the technology available to it in 2011, that the sampling could be confirmed," VMG said.

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The company claims it gave WB Records and Madonna a notice of copyright infringement in July 2011 and again in February 2012.

VMG is seeking damages "in addition to (Madonna's) profits that are attributable to the copyrighted material."

Madonna's reps have not yet responded to requests for comment.

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Madonna's "MDNA" tour is full of surprises. She flashed a boob in Istanbul, mooned her audience in Rome, and in Berlin had an emotional breakdown onstage.

During a slowed-down performance of her 1984 hit "Like a Virgin," Madonna became visibly emotional and cried before finishing the song.

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But Madge wasn't sad for long: A shirtless backup dancer lifted her to her feet, fastened her into a corset and sensually stroked her body.

He then tightened her corset dramatically, causing her to theatrically gasp for air.

"Don't cry, Madonna!" a fan yelled out.

Fortunately, the Material Girl regained her wits, finishing the song to much applause.

PICS: Madonna's Ex-Files

Slideshow: Madonna

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Madonna performs at Rome concert.

She's not sorry, indeed! In Rome on Tuesday, during the latest stop for her MDNA tour, Madonna gave concertgoers a glimpse of something special -- nearly mooning the audience in barely-there skivvies.

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Days after exposing her nipple to fans in Istanbul -- outraging some -- during her song "Human Nature," the 53-year-old pop legend and mother of four pulled a similar stunt during the same number in Italy.

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Clad in a sexy lace bra and trousers, with her blonde locks swept up in a dramatic retro 'do, the Grammy winner yanked down her black pants, revealing her posterior in a lacy, G-string bottom. (Appropriately enough, the 1995 song "Human Nature" is all about Madonna's unapologetic stance for her explicit, edgy Erotica album and Sex book of the early '90s.)

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The icon was criticized in some corners for showing her breast in Istanbul last week during the striptease routine. "What works for a 22-year-old woman or a man is not appropriate, very often, for a 53-year-old," Donny Deutsch complained on TODAY recently. At his, Dr. Nancy Snyderman sniffed. "Not special," she said. "Not a special breast, not worth doing."

Slideshow: Madonna

Evan Agostini / AP

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Marc Grimwade / Getty Images

Lady Gaga arrives at Brisbane Airport ahead of her Australian tour on Monday, June 11.

Even a head injury ain't gonna be a drag for this queen. Lady Gaga took to Twitter Monday night to assure her Little Monsters that she's doing all right after getting seriously clocked in the noodle onstage with a pole and suffering a concussion.

And she's willing to offer up photographic proof, vanity be damned.

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The "Edge of Glory" songstress tweeted a disheveled pic of her waking up in full makeup and looking pretty disoriented.

"Thank you so much for all the thoughtful messages," she wrote. "I feel a bit woozy but a little better everyday. Very happy to be in beautiful Australia."

Yes, Little Monsters: You can breathe easy; Mama's on the mend.

She also poked fun at herself, adding: "Emerging from hours of sleep. Still remiss if I should go outside, with this clonker I may be of questionable styling."

Gaga was struck with a pole onstage Sunday during the New Zealand leg of her tour. But after vowing to "finish this show," she soldiered forth and sang another 16 songs.

MORE: Madonna Covers Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"-- Tribute or Dig?

Poor Gaga, who seems to be under siege these days.

When she's not avoiding swipes from wayward poles or weathering protests from outraged conservative groups, she's taking hits from Madonna, who recently dissed Gaga by performing a mash-up of "Born This Way" and "Express Yourself" in concert.

Has Gaga finally had enough? During her New Zealand show last week, she addressed her detractors, in what observers pegged as a thinly veiled dig at Madge.

"It sometimes makes people feel better about themselves [to], you know, put other people down or make fun of them or maybe make mockery of their work," she said in between songs. "And that doesn't make me feel good at all, that just makes me feel like I'm not being a good human being ... I feel like if you're a really good human being, you can try to find something beautiful in every single person, no matter what."

She also added, "I don't even want to fight back, because it's more important to me to keep writing music."

The most revealing tidbit, though, was this: "Things are really different than they were 25 years ago"--"Express Yourself" debuted in 1988 -- "and that's what makes 'Born This Way' so relevant for me," she said. "We're just socially in a different place and it's OK -- we don't have to all slice and hate each other anymore."

You go tell 'em, girl.

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Madonna took a page out of Janet Jackson's book when she decided to flash her right nipple to a crowd in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday night.

Osman Orsal / Reuters

Madonna performs during a concert at Turk Telekom Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 7.

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The queen of pop is known for crossing lines on and off stage. But she won't be claiming this slip of the nipple was a wardrobe malfunction: Madonna made it perfectly clear (see for yourself in the not-safe-for-work video) that she was deliberately flashing the crowd of roughly 55,000 people in Turkey's largest city. 

The singer, 53, was performing a rendition of her 1995 hit, "Human Nature," when her dance routine turned into a strip tease. Her fans cheered for her as she began taking off her shirt and undoing her pants. The dance culminated in Madonna pulling down her bra to briefly expose her right breast. The singer is in the middle of her world tour, promoting her new album, "MDNA."

Is Madonna's nip slip shocking or snoozy?

This is obviously not the first stunt the singer has made to get people talking, and we're betting it won't be the last. Last week, Madonna also courted controversy on the road after placing an image of a swastika on a picture of French National Front leader Marine Le Pen during a show in Tel Aviv.

Le Pen has since threatened with the prospect of legal action. The politician has said that if the incident is repeated when Madonna's tour arrives in France in July, she will sue.

"We understand how old singers who need to get people talking about them go to such extremes," Le Pen told The Daily Mail. When she was asked if she would sue Madonna, Le Pen replied: "If she does that in France, we'll be waiting."

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Stringer / REUTERS

Madonna

Madonna is getting into the groove of her controversial antics yet again.

The warhorse diva, who's done everything from pillage Catholic imagery to previewing her ta-tas and hoo-ha for all the world to gawk and squawk at, has dipped into her Pandora's box of publicity stunts for her latest headline-grabber.

This time, she pulled out a swastika.

MORE: Madonna covers Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" -- tribute or dig?

The pop star raised eyebrows and infuriated critics when, at a concert last Thursday in Tel Aviv, a swastika splashed across a screen as she performed her song "Nobody Knows Me."

The symbol, which appeared briefly, was emblazoned across the forehead of French political leader Marine Le Pen, whose right-wing National Front party has been accused of anti-Semitism.

The montage also included glimpses of other public figures, including Pope Benedict XVI, Sarah Palin and Chinese leader Hu Jinatao.

Le Pen took the reins of the National Front party last year from her controversial father, Jean-Marie, who was found guilty of condoning war crimes and was fined for making Nazi-sympathetic remarks.

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Le Pen was not amused by the image and has threatened legal action if the singer decides to uncork the stunt in France.

"If she does that in France, we'll be waiting," Le Pen told the Daily Mail.

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She also added, "We understand how old singers who need to get people talking about them go to such extremes."

Madonna's new world tour is set to make a pit stop in France next month. 

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