FUSE TV - Madonna’s “Gang Bang” Shocks Concertgoers in Denver

Madonna and the word “offensive” have been linked together probably since Madge made her debut back in the ‘80s. So it’s no surprise her MDNA tour (which has caused a stir throughout) ruffled more feathers in Denver on Thursday night at the Pepsi Center.

Just three months since the movie theater shooting in Aurora, less than 30 miles from the arena, the pop icon performed “Gang Bang,” off her MDNA album, including singing the lyrics “shot my lover in the head.”

The Associated Press reports the song came during the second act of her concert and showed the 54-year-old singer using a fake gun to shoot a masked gunman while images of blood splattered on a large screen backdrop.

"We're dancing and all of a sudden people started realizing what the song was," said concertgoer Aaron Fransua, 25. "We all just stood there. Everybody who was around me all had shock on their face. I heard a lot of 'wows,'" Fransua said.

Mile High Sports Radio Denver personality Peter Burns said some people actually left the concert during the performance.

“You could see people kinda looking at each other. I heard the word 'Colorado,' you know, 'Aurora,' 'shooting.' You could hear people talking about it and it was little bit unsettling," Burns said. 

Perhaps some assumed Madonna would adhere to a bit of sensitivity toward the gun-heavy performance in Colorado, but her longtime publicist Liz Rosenberg said the segment is important to the show.

"It's like taking out the third act of Hamlet," said Rosenberg. "Madonna does not make things pretty and tie them up with a bow."

Madonna has faced criticism regarding this violent display during her concert and the Aurora shooting before. In August during a show in Edinburgh, Scotland, authorities there asked her to remove the segment from her set. Madonna released a letter soon there after saying that the weapons were “metaphors” and that she doesn't “condone violence or the use of guns.”