Madonna Offers Blunt Comment to Wilson Joke

Madonna--yes, that Madonna--sent a blunt message Wednesday to Gov. Pete Wilson, who had chided his Democratic opponent the day before by saying that Kathleen Brown was as hard to find among crime fighters as “a nun at a Madonna concert . . . even harder to find than Madonna at a nunnery.”

Quoth the singer:

“It would be foolish of me to respond to a statement made by a fool.”

Her comment, forwarded by publicist Liz Rosenberg and Warner Bros. Records spokesman Bob Merlis, came after the singer was shown a copy of a Los Angeles Times article outlining Wilson’s remark and Brown’s angry call for an apology.

Wilson had used the line to pep up his regular attack on Brown for, in his words, failing to campaign for 1993’s Proposition 172, which extended a half-cent sales tax and earmarked the money for local police and public safety funding.

Brown, to put it lightly, was not amused.

“As a woman and as a Catholic, I’m deeply offended by Pete Wilson’s latest smear,” said Brown, who characterized the remark as “off-color.”

“I ask him to retract his statement immediately and to apologize to California women and Catholics.”

Wilson campaign spokesman Dan Schnur said the governor did not intend to offend either Madonna or nuns. But the singer may have the last laugh: She is a registered California voter.