Madonna now very much the James Arthur of race relations

Hmm. So Madonna happily threw around the N-word on Instagram, and has got round to apologising. But, much as James Arthur tried to suggest his homophobic grunting wasn't bad because of how he did it, Madonna's apology tries to suggest that there's somehow a context in which it's all okay. NPR brings us up to speed:

On Friday night, the singer posted a picture of her 13-year-old son, Rocco, boxing and included the comment, "No one messes with Dirty Soap! Mama said knock you out!" She then added a variation of the N-word.

She quickly deleted the comment when outraged Instagram users berated her for the use of the word, and was initially defiant. But in a statement to The Associated Press on Saturday, a contrite Madonna said: "Forgive me."

"I am sorry if I offended anyone with my use of the N word on Instagram. It was not meant as a racial slur. I am not a racist. There's no way to defend the use of the word. It was all about intention," she said. "It was used as a term of endearment toward my son who is white. I appreciate that it's a provocative word and I apologize if it gave people the wrong impression."

Extra points, there, for saying that there's no way you can defend using the word, before going on to attempt to defend using the word.

But it's okay, see, because her son is white. That's so alright, then, yeah?