Madonna defends posting pictures of Mandela, Luther King

Los Angeles: Pop diva Madonna has sparked controversy after she posted altered images of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela on her Instagram account.

The 56-year-old singer now took to Facebook to defend her action and said those pics were never intended to insult anyone, reported TMZ.

Madonna posted a series of black-and-white pictures on her page on January 2, showing the faces of Mandela, Luther King and various icons bound with black string.

"This is neither a crime or an insult or racist," she posted on the social-networking site."I'm saying they are Rebel Hearts too," she added.