Hollywood Flashback: Mary Lambert Reflects on Directing Madonna's Controversial "Like a Prayer" Music Video

hollywoodreporter.com:

Lil Nas X's video for "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" — with its glistening pole to hell and sexy satanic lap dance — has reignited the culture wars in ways not seen since the 1980s.

Back then, Madonna's video for "Like a Prayer" was the controversy to beat. It featured the singer, then 30, dancing in front of burning crosses, experiencing stigmata and kissing a statue of a Black Jesus who comes to life in a church. (The "Saint," as he was described in the script to appease production executives, was portrayed by actor Leon, who also plays a young man wrongly accused of a crime in the piece.) The video debuted on MTV on Feb.