“While its initial debut was cut short, the full video made its way to MTV and was met with immediate backlash. “We knew it was going to be a big story,” Murray says. 

Religious groups called for a boycott, with Pope John Paul II even speaking out against it. “The video is a blasphemy and insult because it shows immorals inside a church,” Italian Roman Catholic historian Roberto de Mattei said at the time. 

Within days of protests and complaints, Pepsi was forced to drop the ad and ultimately cancel its deal with Madonna. “It may go down as one the most expensive advertising blunders ever,” host John Tesh reported on ET soon after. 

The fight with religious groups didn’t stop with the music video, however. The Vatican even tried to boycott her “Blond Ambition” tour when it came through Italy. “I am aware that the Vatican and certain communities are accusing my show of being sinful and blasphemous, that they are trying to keep people from seeing it,” Madonna said at the time. “I think I'm offending certain groups, but I think that people who really understand what I’m doing aren't offended by it.”

Despite the controversy, which could have devastated an artist of lesser assurance, “Like a Prayer” went on to be nominated for MTV Video Music Awards’ Video of the Year and has since been viewed over 72 million times on YouTube. Meanwhile, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100. Today, it’s considered one of the singer’s best and is listed in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”