U2 frontman Bono has ensured he’ll stay on Madonna’s good side by speaking out against the criticism of her adoption of a baby boy from Malawi.

Madonna has been accused of buying the 13-month old baby and along with the Malawian authorities, taking advantage of the boy’s father.

Bono told the Sun: “Madonna should be applauded for helping to take a child out of the worst poverty imaginable and giving him a better chance in life.”

“[The baby] David is lucky to have been adopted by someone who can give him a chance of survival in this world and I don’t think it’s fair that people are criticising her.”

Madonna has said that she would not have chosen David if she had known he still had living family members that visited him but Bono believes she should not feel bad about that because the family still might not have been able to look after the child.

He explained: “About 20 years ago when my wife Ali and I went to Africa, shortly after Live Aid, a man who quite clearly loved his child came up to us and begged us to take him.”

“It is heart-breaking but he asked us to take his child home with us because he couldn’t feed him. This happens all the time in parts of Africa where unthinkable poverty means people simply can’t feed their children.”