About 125 people packed a room at the Bay County Historical Museum in downtown Bay City to hear Johnson's program — part of the Bay County Historical Society's monthly Second Saturday series.
Johnson sought to dispel some of the myths surrounding the most successful female recording artist of all time, Madonna Louise Ciccone, during his presentation titled "The Madonna Controversy."

Born in Bay City at the former Mercy Hospital, Madonna was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008, and is expected to be inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame later this year.
She topped Forbes list of top-earning celebrities and her net worth is estimated to be between $850 million and $1 billion.

"Not bad for a girl who played on Smith Street," Johnson quipped.

Johnson acknowledges the negative feelings many Bay City residents have for the Queen of Pop, and said he hopes to remedy such attitudes through his presentation. He said folks on Saturday, Feb. 8, were excited to learn more about Madonna.

Here are five things, according to Johnson, that you might not know:

1. Madonna has great affection for Bay City

Johnson says Madonna's infamous "smelly little town in northern Michigan" comment was taken out of context.
The Material Girl said that during a 1987 interview with NBC's Jane Pauly, when asked about her hometown. Folks back home reacted negatively to the comment, but may have missed how Madonna answered Pauly's follow-up question on whether she fosters affection or great disdain for Bay City.
“I have great affection for Bay City,” Madonna replied.

As for that alleged stench, Johnson said Madonna's grandmother's house at 1204 Smith St. in the Banks District, was quite close to a Dow Chemical plant on Patterson Avenue.
He said Madonna's grandmother, Elsie Mae Fortin, and her father, Silvio Anthony "Tony" Ciccone, had a running joke about whose town was smellier.

2. Madonna didn't pose for ****ographic photos for Penthouse or Playboy

She did, however, model nude for body studies for art students, Johnson said. She did this to earn a little extra money while also working as a waitress at Dunkin' Donuts and taking gigs as a singer and dancer in New York after dropping out of the University of Michigan, where she had been awarded a dance scholarship.
She was 18-19 at the time of the photos and had signed a model release allowing the photographer to sell or use the photographs. When her music career began to take off, he sold them to Penthouse and Playboy.

3. Madonna did not refuse to accept a key from the city of Bay City

It was never offered to her after the nude — not ****ographic, said Johnson — photos of her were published.

The Detroit Free Press, upon hearing of it, wrote in an editorial: "the vacillating mayor of Bay City has created a political problem for himself over the Madonna issue." It went on to say that he failed to understand her mystique, "making him more naive than the average 13-year-old in Bay City".

Johnson said Sullivan's sister once told him that the real reason Sullivan did not offer the key to the city to Madonna is because he felt she was an inappropriate role model.