Madonna’s new music video contains graphically violent scenes from a mass shooting which bears a heavy likeness to the 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub, Orlando in which 49 people were killed and 53 others were injured. 

The video for “God Control” from Madonna’s 14th studio album, Madame X, presents a chiling “recreation” of the Orlando shooting on June 14, 2016, with scenes of graphic violence dominating its eight-minute duration. In the video, a gunman is seen entering a dimly-lit nightclub before opening fire on those inside to desperate screams and cries for help.

A written message is given at the start which reads: “The story you are about to see is very disturbing. It shows graphic scenes on gun violence. But it’s happening every day, and it has to stop.” The video cuts between the reenactment of the shooting and Madonna writing out the lyrics to the song on a typewriter, a kind of open letter to the nation, pleading for action to be taken: “Everybody knows the damn truth, our nation lied, we lost respect. When we wake up, what can we do?”

Madonna said in a statement: “I want to draw attention through my platform as an artist to a problem in America that is out of control and is taking the lives of innocent people. This crisis can end if our legislators act to change the laws that fail to protect us all.”

You can watch the video in full below: