Lady Gaga is a chief provocateur and no stranger to controversy in the music industry. Her crazed antics, fashion and lunacy in her performances is everything we either love or detest her for. From the meat dress of the VMA's three years ago, she has now reached a new level of vulgarity involving a 'vomit artist' at her recent SXSW music festival in Texas earlier this month.
Out of all her shocking performances this one comes across as desperate for attention. Gaga's set began with an attractive woman eating barbecued sausages in a overly sexualised manner, before climbing aboard a mechanical bull-like pig equipped with a ball gag and a keyboard. Her pal, Millie Brown, then stuck her fingers down her throat and vomiting to be covered in a green gunge.
While Gaga and Millie defend the act as 'art' there is denying the stunt correlates with the behaviours of bulimia. As a recovered bulimia sufferer I find it troubling that the serious illness with the use of food and vomiting for entertainment.
Fellow pop star, Demi Lovato, immediately hit out raising her concerns that Gaga is endorsing eating disorders. 'Sad... As if we didn't have enough people glamorizing eating disorders already,' she tweeted following Gaga's controversial performance. 'Bottom line, it's not "cool" or "artsy" at all.' I couldn't agree more with Demi and justifying the act as 'art' is lame and careless.
Gaga has spoken about her ongoing struggles with food and body image. She's been public with her body positivity movement, with her Body Revolution campaign. Having struggled with eating disorders it's confusing as to why she has played on it in her recent stage show.
Following tweets from Gaga's 'Little Monsters' Demi remained unmoved and fired back: 'So it's cool if I do a speech about self-harm and then proceed to watch someone cut themselves on my stage? No. That doesn't make it OKAY.'
Gaga may claim to be an advocate for body image but is a total joke. In my view she is a foul role model for isolated and marganisied young people who are vulnerable to eating disorders. By mocking bulimia behaviours having suffered herself is not helpful. If anything, it undermines the seriousness of eating disorders being a serious conditions with the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses.
In an interview she defended Demi's criticisms saying: I have struggled with an eating disorder for over 10 years and I take that very seriously and I take the struggle of others very seriously. I am very supportive of Demi's struggle and her recovery as well as the recovery of anyone who is suffering from that, but this performance had absolutely nothing to do with any eating disorder, and we never intended for it to be taken that way. I'm really proud of the performance and really stand by the message of rage and pain that we were trying to express in that moment.
It's hypocrisy as to why Gaga involved a vomit artist in her performance if she cares so deeply about the issue of eating disorders as she claims? Surely, she would realise the performance would conflict with those who idolise her who are suffering from anorexia and bulimia?
Regardless of her intent, the actual message was terrible from an eating disorders stand-point...