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Madonna accused of Photoshopping her head onto TikTok user’s body for Instagram photo
Singer captioned the edited 2015 Instagram photo: ‘I look kewl...’
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People are calling out Madonna after a TikTok user claimed that the singer Photoshopped her head onto her body while promoting album Rebel Heart in 2015.
Earlier this month, Amelia Goldie uploaded a TikTok in which she explained that Madonna had actually used a photo of her body, which had been edited to include the 62-year-old’s face, for a promotional photo shared to her official Instagram.
“When Madonna posts a photo of herself to IG to promote her album but it’s actually your body (I’m not joking),” Goldie captioned the clip, which sees the original photo of herself, and then the edited photo that Madonna posted to her social media account.
The video, which has been viewed more than 2m times, prompted confused reactions from viewers, with many digging through Madonna’s Instagram - only to find that the photo in question is still there, where it is captioned: “I look kewl…”
In a follow-up TikTok, the 28-year-old confirmed that the photo is still on the singer’s Instagram, where she has more than 15.7m followers, six years later.
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Goldie told Vice that she initially thought it was a joke, only to see the photo for herself on Madonna’s official Instagram.
@ameliamgoldie When Madonna photoshops her face onto your body (never thought that’d be a sentence I’d say) ##ohno ##madonna
♬ Oh No - Kreepa
“I laughed and thought it was a joke then realised it was on her official account and couldn’t believe it. I was in shock.” she said. “I told my parents and they still think it’s a joke and can’t comprehend how or why it’s happened. It’s hilarious.”
Goldie also said that she has reached out to Madonna’s team twice about the situation, but has never received a response.
@ameliamgoldie Reply to @choleenmenciano it’s still there... ##madonna ##ohno
♬ Oh No - Kreepa
“I’m surprised it’s still up honestly,” Goldie said. “Quite a few people are saying that she should credit me and that it’s a bit strange!”
Since sharing the TikTok, the Material Girl singer’s photo has been flooded with comments from people questioning why she did not credit Goldie.
“Man I feel bad for Amelia Goldie. She should be making all the money that Madonna is getting from this post,” one person commented.
Another said: “Stealing someone’s photo without recognition or compensation is not a good look. The fact that this is from 2015 and is still up when it’s obvious this is a stolen and badly edited photo is appalling.”
“You really Photoshopped your face onto Amelia Goldie’s body...wow. No, you don’t look ‘kewl’ but Amelia sure does,” someone else wrote.
Others have encouraged Goldie to sue, with one person writing on TikTok: “Oh my god please sue her and get your millions girl.”
While Goldie told BuzzFeed that she would “laugh and say I’m flattered” if Madonna ever did reach out to her about the photo, she also said she wishes she would have been credited.
“I think if you’re going to play somebody else’s body off as your own they deserve to be mentioned. But no hard feelings!” she added.
The Independent has contacted Goldie and a representative for Madonna for comment.
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