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Realizing that perhaps a single emotional Oprah appearance that betrayed her stouthearted, fake-British composure was not quite enough to completely reverse the public's lingering impression that her recent African charity efforts amounted to nothing more than a calculated and self-serving toddler-snatching, Madonna has reemerged on the U.S. media circuit to plead her case. Talking to Meredith Vieira yesterday, the frequently becameltoed Queen of Pop explained that when she realized that the child who captured her heart on videotape and whom she began to brazenly adoption-stalk (or something to that effect) had a living parent, she first pledged her material support so that he may raise the child himself. He then proudly refused the offer, paving the way for a no-strings, guilt-free baby purchase:

"I offered that in court when I met him," the pop queen said in an interview with NBC's Meredith Vieira that airs today. "I couldn't really understand that decision. ... I believe he remarried and had moved to another village and was kind of getting on with his life."

Madonna said she never doubted that 13-month-old David Banda's dad wanted her to raise his son.

"I think he truly felt in his heart of hearts ... that he would have a better life with me," Madonna said of Yohane Banda.

"So, when he said no" to the money, Madonna said she took it as "my sign that ... it was my responsibility to look after him."

Yohane Banda, the child's father, has shown no reluctance to speak to the press, and so we await his inevitable response to the claims, blearily delivered moments after being awoken in the dead of night by spotlights, the whirling of helicopter blades, and the shouted questions of a small army of international journalists wondering if he really did turn down a generous gift, or if a meretricious Madonna will now have to submit to yet another softball-lobbing interview in which she dismisses the latest claims that she's a lying baby-stealer.

UPDATE: Does this guy have a press agent? Yohane Banda addresses the matter of Madonna's gift. It's after the jump.

UPDATE: Yohane Banda's got this "official media statement" thing down. He says:

"Madonna explained to me that she wanted to adopt my son," Banda was quoted as saying in the interview, which took place Friday. "She assured me she would take good care of David and raise him in peace." [...]

"She knows what to do with a lot of money, and I don't," he said. "I could not have started anything with the money, and in the end it would have only spoiled things for me and David."

It would seem things in poverty-stricken Africa aren't all that different from things back home: In Malawai, mo' money, mo' problems.