By Tim Saunders on
Actor Ethan Hawke has praised Madonna's words of support for Gypsies during her concert in Romania.
Hawke was in Romania on Saturday to promote the Ovidiu Rom charity run by his mother, Leslie Hawke. The charity supports education for gypsy children. His comments followed the singer’s concert in August in Bucharest in which she stated that widespread discrimination against Eastern Europe’s Gypsies should end – an idea that didn’t go down well with the crowd as thousands of fans responded by booing her.
“She transcended being a pop star,” PopEater reports him as saying. “She drew international attention and shone the spotlight on a level of racism and the need for greater education. I don’t have an agenda, Madonna doesn’t have an agenda. We aren’t politicians.”
A pair of Madonna’s Christian Dior shoes with autographed skyscraper gold heels were raffled at the ball, held in the giant palace of the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Among the other prizes was a gold chain donated by Vanessa Redgrave.
“I feel I can do something, instead of being part of the problem,” said Hawke, who has been visiting Romania since 2000 to support his mother’s charity work.
Visit PopEater.com to find out more.
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