Trump 'as low as we can go': Madonna
Madonna, an outspoken critic of US president-elect Donald Trump, is trying to put a positive spin on his inauguration.
"He's actually doing us a great service because we have gone as low as we can go," she said on Thursday night.
"We can only go up from here, so what are we going to do? We have two choices, destruction and creation. I chose creation."
The singer, dressed in all black and wearing a shirt that read "Feminist", spoke at the Brooklyn Museum with artist Marilyn Minter about art in a time of protest, among other things, in a discussion moderated by author and poet Elizabeth Alexander, who performed a work at the first inauguration of President Barack Obama.
A clip of author James Baldwin, an inspiration of Madonna's, played before the talk, as did her 2013 short film Secret Revolution, dedicated to people whose rights have been abused and denied.
On the eve of Trump becoming president, Madonna and Minter vowed to lead protests against him, including attending Saturday's Women's March in Washington.
Madonna said that while she was "horrified" Trump won the election over Hillary Clinton, she believed it was necessary.
"I do believe that Trump was elected for a reason, to show us how lazy and un-unified and lackadaisical and taking for granted we've become of our freedom and the rights that we have as Americans," she said.
