NYC's Museum of Sex issues groveling apology to Madonna over exhibit claiming Queen of Pop ignored AIDS crisis during 1980s after she aggressively fundraised to help dying friends

• Madonna was one of the earliest advocates for AIDS research and awareness
• Fans leapt to her defense, pointing out how much money the Queen of Pop has raised over the years for the cause 
• The Museum was forced to apologize and promised to change the sign 

New York City's Museum of Sex was forced to apologize to Madonna after falsely claiming she ignored the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. 

In an exhibit on 1980s music videos, the Museum wrote that Madonna - along with other 'mainstream musicians' - had 'failed to openly acknowledge the devastation of the moment'.

But when fans and AIDS campaigners leapt to the Queen of Pop's defense, sharing newspaper clippings, historic interviews and album art that showed her early campaigning, the Museum was forced to apologize. 

The AIDS Memorial Twitter account called on the Museum to 'get your facts right' while a fan account said it showed 'willful ignorance.' 

In response, the Museum said: 'We have since amended our signage in the museum to point out the early steps Madonna took to bring attention to the AIDS crisis.

'We regret any negative light this may have shined. It was purely unintentional.'

Madonna was one of the first public figures to advocate for compassion for AIDS sufferers and awareness around the transmission and symptoms of the disease. 

At a time when an HIV diagnosis was thought to be a death sentence, Madonna fundraised for treatments, campaigned for greater awareness and wrote songs about the crisis. 

Throughout the 80s and 90s, she competed in AIDS benefit dance-a-thons and modelled in an all-star AIDS benefit fashion show at Barney's.

Her first international world tour raised $400,000 for amFAR (the Foundation for AIDS Research) in one of the first celebrity AIDS benefits. 

She lost several friends and mentors to AIDS in the 1990s. One of her close friends, Keith Haring, died of AIDS in 1990. 

Sharing a photo of them together in 2018, Madonna said: 'He was a big AIDS activist when everyone was calling it GAY cancer. I was with him the day he died of AIDS. 

'He said what hurt him the most was how people did not want to touch door knobs after he touched them. The discrimination then was next level.'

Fans were quick to set the record straight online and leapt to Madonna's defense. 

One said the Museum's 'credibility is forever tarnished.' They added: 'You obviously do not do the most basic of research. To correct it now is a little too late.' 

The fan account which first shared the signage called on the Museum to 'rectify this' saying 'to disregard her work is willful ignorance and offensive.' 

Another fan said: 'Shame on you... Do your research.' 

One said: 'Please tell us this isn't what's currently being displayed. Wrong on so many counts!'