Madonna issues 'wake up' call on gun violence in graphic music video

Madonna stepped into the gun violence debate on Wednesday with a music video containing graphic dramatizations of a mass shooting.

Called 'God Control,'the disco beat song and video depicts a gunman opening fire in a crowded nightclub or bar and images of actors playing dancers who fall to the ground, bleeding, or try to flee.

A message before the video reads, "The story you’re about to see is very disturbing. It shows graphic scenes of gun violence. But it’s happening everyday. And it has to stop."

"We need to wake up," Madonna sings. The video also uses TV footage of demonstrators calling for stricter gun control, including the 2018 "March For Our Lives," in Washington and other UScities.

While the music video does not refer to any one incident, it recalls the June 2016 shooting inside the Pulse gay nightclub in Florida, in which 49 people were killed and 53 injured.

Madonna, 60, said the video was designed to shock.

"Seeing the reality, and the brutality of things makes you wake up,” the singer told People magazine on Wednesday.