Madonna’s GLAAD Awards Speech: Watch Her Talk Boy Scouts, Pussy Riot, Anderson Cooper

Christina Lee | March 17, 2013 10:23 am

“I think you and me need to start a revolution together,” Madonna said to Anderson Cooper, “but we can hammer out the details later.” Last night, she presented the CNN anchor with the Vita Russo Award at the 24th annual Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Awards. Before she praised Cooper’s bravery and blue eyes, though, she dove into some of reasons why she called for revolution — namely, the Boy Scouts and Pussy Riot.

In protest of the organization’s ban on gay scouts and scout leaders, Madonna wore a Boy Scouts uniform of her own as she cracked jokes on why she should be a Boy Scout (“.. most importantly, I know how to scout for boys”) and why she made a terrible Girl Scout (“I ate the cookies”). “I think I should be allowed to be a Boy Scout, and I think they should change their stupid rules, don’t you?” she said.

Later on however, Madonna’s jokes segued into a more serious call for dialogue. As she first did at her MDNA gig in Moscow, she referenced the imprisonment of Pussy Riot as she rooted her speech in the organization’s greater cause. “I have teenagers of my own now, and the idea of them — or any young person — experiencing that kind of pain is unfathomable to me. It’s an atrocity to me. I don’t accept it,” she said.

Watch her speech up top.