New York, NY, August 25, 2008 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today condemned as "inappropriate and offensive" the use by Madonna of an image of Hitler as part of a concert photo montage that also included photos of John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe. 

The images were projected on a screen as Madonna launched her world tour with a live concert in Cardiff, Wales.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor, issued the following statement:

Comparisons to Hitler have no place in a music concert, or in the presidential campaign.

Whatever Madonna's political or personal views, it is outrageous to invoke Nazi imagery in the context of John McCain's candidacy or to make a comment on American political leadership.

It is inappropriate and offensive to compare any current or former world leaders with the man ultimately responsible for the death of six million Jews and the suffering of countless others during the Holocaust.  Doing so trivializes the history of the Holocaust and is an insult to the memories of the victims and their families.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.