Well, it's a little bit biased towards Madonna, but the article is really on spot imho.

[Edited 7/14/15 18:55pm]

Hugh Hefner is,what...100 years old (??) and he has all these wild Playboy parties with young blondbimbos everywhere,and people think that's cool..."he's a pimp"

but if Madonna dares to make a video like "Bitch,I'm Madonna",they say she's too old and should stay home and take care of her kids,lol.

SoulAlive said:

Hugh Hefner is,what...100 years old (??) and he has all these wild Playboy parties with young blondbimbos everywhere,and people think that's cool..."he's a pimp"

but if Madonna dares to make a video like "Bitch,I'm Madonna",they say she's too old and should stay home and take care of her kids,lol.

Yes, ageism is very much alive and well, and while some stars like Bruce Springsteen get a little bit more benefit of the doubt, it's not like he, the Rolling Stones, or Bon Jovi are topping the charts (though they are selling out arenas and stadiums when they go on tour). To most millennials, Prince, Madonna, Bon Jovi, Janet Jackson, U2, and Mariah Carey are artists "my parents listen to", and with both Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston having left this earth, it only makes them stand out even more as "old" artists.

As for the Stones and such, young people look at Mick Jagger and Iggy Pop and wonder who the creepy old guys dancing on stage are, if they are aware of them at all, and they think of Paul McCartney as that old guy in the Rihanna/Kanye video who could "blow up" if he hooked up with the right producers.

As for Hugh Hefner, I've seen a lot of comments online from people who think he's like the cryptkeeper from Tales From The Crypt and wonder why any woman would want to get naked in front of him for anything other money and/or fame, let alone date him. And with the stories of Bill Cosby surfacing in the media and how he and Hef were close buddies back in the 70's and how Hef practically steered Qualuudes towards Cosby for date rape, Hef looks even more creepy now.

Although I understand the concept of ageism, I fail to see how it's comparable to homophobia or racism African Americans and gays had suffered and still DO. They're the ones facing true discrimination, and shamefully still in 2015. The amount of stories of gays being attacked for their sexuality, or the shameful number of stories that have circulated in 2014-15 about cops and how they target black people is evidence of that. While nobody should be telling someone how to act, especially based on their age, I think Madonna's statement was dumb, comparing her not being able to striptease at the age of 56 without people laughing at her to ACTUAL oppression. Again, I get where she was coming from.. but I remember when she made this statement, she got more hate than before for making that sort of comparison. Honestly, rightfully so.

And I don't think she's alone... I've seen the "old" moniker attached to nearly every musician who's... get this.. OLD. Including Prince, Springsteen, especially Mick Jagger, and such.

While sexism is alive and vibrant in America today, the author made a few weird points. Women are called 'cougars' for dating young guys, but I don't see how she/he claims men are praised for dating much younger girls Maybe by other men, but as a whole the one word I hear attached to a man like that is: creep. And people assuming a woman is dating him for the money, because there's nothing else attractive about him.

I do agree with some of what they say (that artists aren't played if they're too old). But I don't think it's a gender issue Nobody old is played anymore. And pop stars tend to get criticized for their chart positions more often: if you're a musician releasing a new song that fails to catch fire commercially, you'll still be praised. If you're a pop star releasing a 3-minute catchy tune that fails to catch fire commercially, you'll be made fun of.

[Edited 7/14/15 20:54pm]

It's part of the stupid and sick USA society

214 said:

It's part of the stupid and sick USA society

Yes, as a Gay man (I can't speak for Black men) the comparison isn't right, but Madge has a point. Discrimination is discrimination. There ARE reasons to criticize Madge, but why always go for the "age"?

It's not fair for her and for anyone being discrimnated for ageism, it's just so stupid and nonsense i mean it's like the people specially the younger people blame her for something so natural a like the human process of ageism. Those people believe that the will never get old, oh no of course no one gets old but Madonna, yeah right.

phillymonster said:

Yes, as a Gay man (I can't speak for Black men) the comparison isn't right, but Madge has a point. Discrimination is discrimination. There ARE reasons to criticize Madge, but why always go for the "age"?

Because it's the easy option to dismiss someone for their age. "She's over 50 now, she's not relevant anymore, she's boring," etc etc etc. Rarely do they criticize her work, or if they do, it's age-related ("she's too old to be dancing like that!")

I feel the reason Madonna has gone to 'extremes' (ie Bitch I'm Madonna video, the grill, bum flashing) this past year is to make a point. She knows people are saying she shouldn't do this, that and the other, because of her age. So she's showing people that she does and behaves exactly how she wants to, regardless of what people think or say, and to be fair, that's what she's always done. Madonna's never conformed and she ain't about to start now!

Yes, it's a shame your records don't sell as well as they used to do when you were younger and were able to use sex to sell them.

So wrong.

"I've never followed the rules before",Madonna says."I'm not gonna start now"

Whoever this guy is, he is truly "trolling". The album isn't even out yet but its deemed a failure after its first single is released after two weeks. I won't even go into the whole propofol reference. That's just poor taste altogether. Must need attention.

-

"

An article by Robert Paul Reyes of the Student Operated Press had some harsh words for Jackson on Tuesday.

“Even if Janet Jackson had an ‘accidental’ wardrobe-malfuncion, exposing her nether regions, it wouldn’t help her move merchandise. Jackson’s single No Sleeep is a snoozer, and the album from which it comes from is as effective as Propofol in inducing sleep. Jackson might as well fall into external sleep, she’s a tired and played-out old lady.”

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Personally, I think a lot of these "writers" need to chill on the Janet's Failure angle because, it's mad early in this era to call it anything but early. I'm not denial about the lack of enthusiasm in Pop radio, but I don't think that was their goal anyway. Everybody will get their upbeat dance track from Janet as anticipated.

-

If the tour fails to sell tickets, album drops and nobody buys it, more singles and accompanied videos are release and no one cares enough to watch them. Then we can start talking about the possibility of ageism in Janet's case. But its just entirely too early to have that conversation (to me at least).

SoulAlive said:

Hugh Hefner is,what...100 years old (??) and he has all these wild Playboy parties with young blondbimbos everywhere,and people think that's cool..."he's a pimp"

but if Madonna dares to make a video like "Bitch,I'm Madonna",they say she's too old and should stay home and take care of her kids,lol.

The truth is there's no shortage of young, attractive women willing to give it up to any old-timer that's a rockstar/celebrity. It's a whole different story when it comes to young men willing to brave an older woman's junk.

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I don't make the rules but I understand them.

MotownSubdivision said:

Why does it seem that many of those who defend Madonna to the ends of the earth using ageism and sexism to justify their argument use those very things to attack Janet? Hypocritical much?

its true. when madonna puts out uptempo music and gets called desperate and trying to be young she gets to blame it on ageism and sexism, janet puts out music thats clearly not geared to compete with anyone or follow any trends and she gets bashed and called a flop and all of a sudden 'she needs to put out something to attract the young kids'. calling someone's album a flop when we dont even have a title, and totally disregarding the r&b charts for a r&b song is clearly bias.

The Jacksons will never get a fair shake. Janet's new single is actually not doing incredibly bad on the charts considering she has not promoted it. I personally think its just a buzz single and not the official one. Also, Madonna got bashed harshly for her "Bitch I'm Madonna" video so I am not sure how some think she is getting a "pass". Besides this silly article, Janet has received very positive reviews for her song.