”She wanted it in, and they wanted it out”

Under pressure from Christian conservative groups accusing Madonna of sacrilege, U.S. television network NBC said on Thursday it removed footage of the singer performing while suspended on a giant cross from her upcoming prime-time concert special.

Madonna had insisted that the mock crucifixion, a centrepiece of her “Confessions” world tour staged while she performed the hit song “Live to Tell“, be included in the two-hour special set to air on NBC on November 22.

But socially conservative organizations organized a campaign urging NBC affiliate stations to refuse to carry the special if the crucifix stunt remained in the show.

After weeks of uncertainty, the network said it decided it would not show the opening portion of the “Live to Tell” performance in which she sings suspended from a giant mirrored cross while wearing a crown of thorns.

Instead, cameras will cut away to other shots while Madonna is on the cross, then cut back to the singer when she steps down to finish the song.

“You hear the song, but you’re not seeing her on the cross,” one network source told Reuters.

Madonna’s New York-based spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, said the 48-year-old entertainer, an executive producer of the special, ultimately acquiesced to the revision of the broadcast, but suggested the singer was not happy about it.

“She wanted it in, and they wanted it out,” Rosenberg, a Warner Bros. Records executive, told Reuters.

“You won’t see Madonna on a crucifix. That element of the song is no longer in the show. How they came to that conclusion I really don’t know.”

“I know it was Madonna’s desire to have the show air in its entirety, but it didn’t work out that way,” Liz told the Los Angeles Times. “She is not mocking the church.”

Source: Reuters UK and UPI.