Lady Gaga mocks the elderly and dissabled in her latest performance

[briann]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2014423/Lady-Gaga-slammed-disability-groups-performing-stage-wheelchair.html



Has Lady Gaga finally taken things too far? Singer is slammed by disability groups after performing on stage in a wheelchair

By Georgina Littlejohn

She has been criticised for her use of religious symbolism, slammed for some of her song lyrics and had animal rights groups up in arms over her meat dress.

But Lady Gaga might have pushed her critics over the edge last night after she came on stage in Australia in a wheelchair.

The able-bodied star has caused outrage among disability groups after she wheeled herself on in front of 1,000 people at the Sydney Town Hall.
Artistic or a wheely bad joke? Lady Gaga comes on stage in a wheelchair during her concert at the Sydney Town Hall in Australia last night

Artistic or a wheely bad joke? Lady Gaga comes on stage in a wheelchair during her concert at the Sydney Town Hall in Australia last night

Six songs into the ten song set, Gaga went off for a costume change and came on in a wheelchair wearing a PVC mermaid tail before launching into her single You And I.

But although her fans went crazy for the performance, it was met with disapproval from some disability organisations and advocacy groups.

In a statement to RadarOnline, Jesse Billauer, founder of the Life Rolls On Foundation, fumed: 'I haven’t seen Lady Gaga’s performance, but respect her artistic expression as an artist.
Outrage: But this was not the first time Gaga had used a wheelchair as a prop - and she wasn't the first star to do so either

Outrage: But this was not the first time Gaga had used a wheelchair as a prop - and she wasn't the first star to do so either

'Since this isn’t the first time she has used a wheelchair in her performances, I invite her to learn more about the 5.6 million Americans who live with paralysis.

'I extend a personal invitation to Lady Gaga to attend one of our Life Rolls On events where quadriplegics and paraplegics surf, skate, and snowboard, so she can see how much is possible beyond a wheelchair.

'Maybe that will be most shocking to her of all. They, like me, unfortunately, don’t use a wheelchair for shock value.'
Dancing Down Under: In a sparkly outfit, Gaga wowed the select crowd at the Sydney Town Hall

Dancing Down Under: In a sparkly outfit, Gaga wowed the select crowd at the Sydney Town Hall
Just put your paws up: Gaga changes into a dazzling bodysuit as she is joined by her dancers for Born This Way

Just put your paws up: Gaga changes into a dazzling bodysuit as she is joined by her dancers for Born This Way

And The Roman Reed Foundation, which promotes spinal cord injury research, took to its Twitter page to write: 'Dear @ladygaga how about using your celebrity status 2 try 2 get us out of wheelchairs. Instead of cruising one. Cool?!'

This isn't the first time Gaga has used a wheelchair as a prop - she is seen being wheeled into a hotel in the video for her hit song Paparazzi wearing a neck brace after being pushed off a balcony by her lover.

Speaking to Vanity Fair at the time, she said the video was meant to 'show the hilarity to which people will fame-whore themselves.'
She likes her wheels: Gaga also used a wheelchair as a prop in the video for her song Paparazzi

She likes her wheels: Gaga also used a wheelchair as a prop in the video for her song Paparazzi

And she added: 'I had girls in wheelchairs crying to me at meet-and-greets, telling me that when they saw that video it changed their lives.'

But Gaga is not the first music artists to use a wheelchair as a prop and many said she had ripped off Bette Midler's famous stage character Delores Delago, a beached mermaid that appears on stage in a wheelchair.

And at the 1992 Reading Festival, the late Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana frontman was wheeled on to the stage for their headlining set in a dig at journalists who had accused Kurt of being a drug addict and had made speculations about his mental health.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2014423/Lady-Gaga-slammed-disability-groups-performing-stage-wheelchair.html#ixzz1S8gQVsml

[muman613]

Im not defending Lady Gaga BUT...

I think some people are over-reacting to this...

I remember in the 1980s my favorite TV comedy named SCTV had a character, Guy Caballero, who was fully healthy yet used a wheelchair 'for sympathy'.... It was hilarious... I don't think they would get away with that today though..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_City_Television

Also seen fairly frequently (particularly in the later episodes) were behind-the-scenes plots focusing on life at the station. These plots often featured Guy Caballero (Joe Flaherty), the cheap, tyrannical owner and president of SCTV, who was in a wheelchair only so that people would "respect" him; weaselly, sweating station manager Maurice "Moe" Green (Harold Ramis), who was succeeded by flamboyant, leopard-skin clad station manager Mrs. Edith Prickley (Andrea Martin); vain variety star Johnny La Rue (John Candy); washed-up entertainers like singer Lola Heatherton (Catherine O'Hara) and "funnyman" Bobby Bittman (Eugene Levy); news anchors Floyd Robertson (Flaherty) and Earl Camembert (Levy), talk-show host Sammy Maudlin (Flaherty), beer-addled brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie (Moranis and Thomas), plus many other characters, all played by the SCTV cast.

[briann]

Yes, I remember Guy.   But Gaga is not doing a comedy bit to make fun of a fake person, which I agree, was a funny bit.

But Gaga is rediculing in the name of being controversial.  She is wearing those huge Sunguard dark glasses and has blue hair and creepy clothes and is trying to basically look like a clown.  I know she is trying to 'push the envelope' but cummon, there is NOTHING artistic or entertaining about her coming out as an old handicapped lady.  Its just creepy and insensitive.   

I think she is running out of ideas.  Maybe next she'll come on stage as an infant in a crib, or a mother about to give birth in stirrups.

[Confederate Kahanist]

I don't mean to defend her though it doesn't look like it to me that she is making fun of the handicapped. 

[muman613]

Yes, I remember Guy.   But Gaga is not doing a comedy bit to make fun of a fake person, which I agree, was a funny bit.

But Gaga is rediculing in the name of being controversial.  She is wearing those huge Sunguard dark glasses and has blue hair and creepy clothes and is trying to basically look like a clown.  I know she is trying to 'push the envelope' but cummon, there is NOTHING artistic or entertaining about her coming out as an old handicapped lady.  Its just creepy and insensitive.  

I think she is running out of ideas.  Maybe next she'll come on stage as an infant in a crib, or a mother about to give birth in stirrups.

I guess this is an opportune time to relate a story I have told many times to friends...

When I lived in Venice Beach, Ca. there were 'BUMS' who hung out in front of the 7/11s begging for money.

One time I drove up and saw a guy sitting in a wheelchair with a cup in his hand. He was wearing dark glasses which looked like the glasses blind people wear. I almost wanted to give this poor guy some change but I didn't have any on me at the time....

Well, when I left the 7/11 and walked outside I saw that same guy standing up, holding a wad of dollar bills he was counting... He was using the wheelchair and glasses as a ploy in order to get people to give him money...

Ill never forget that...

PS: Maybe she could come out as a rat stuck to a glue trap...

[muman613]

!!! TIMMY !!!

Where was the rage about Timmy?

[IsraelForever]

I have nothing but disdain and disgust for this lady gaga virus.  For her, an able-bodied person, to come out in a wheelchair and to use the wheelchair as a PROP is an outrage to people for whom it unfortunately is NOT a prop.  What a tactless thing to do.  And I do think that she is subtly and subconciously mocking people with disabilities.  Let her come out in an egg and let them boil it.  That people go and pay money to watch this abomination says more about our society than I'd care to think.  

[MasterWolf1]

Lady Cacca

[briann]

Actually, there was some rage about Timmy as I remember, but Southpark has done so many offensive things, its hard to keep track.

[Meerkat]

Actually, there was some rage about Timmy as I remember, but Southpark has done so many offensive things, its hard to keep track.

i know this is a bit off topic but..

notice how South Park has offended every living person on the planet, with 1 exception, the groups they offended handled it well. you all know who that one exception is. they sent the creators death threats after they made fun of their prophet for their 200th and 201st episode and got those 2 censored.

[Masha]

I remember in the 1980s my favorite TV comedy named SCTV had a character, Guy Caballero, who was fully healthy yet used a wheelchair 'for sympathy'.... It was hilarious.

Ha! That was my favorite TV comedy show, as well!!

I remember Perrini Scleroso in MY Fair Lady or CCCP-TV - and start laughing hysterically.

[muman613]

Ha! That was my favorite TV comedy show, as well!!

I remember Perrini Scleroso in MY Fair Lady or CCCP-TV - and start laughing hysterically.

That episode is on Youtube.... I watched it recently...

[briann]

i know this is a bit off topic but..

notice how South Park has offended every living person on the planet, with 1 exception, the groups they offended handled it well. you all know who that one exception is. they sent the creators death threats after they made fun of their prophet for their 200th and 201st episode and got those 2 censored.

Yes, apparently, Trey Parker got so angry that Comedy Central censored him, that he made a sequence with Jesus defecating on George Bush, not sure why he responded in such a strange way, but I think he was never used to this kind of censorship, and it made him furious.

[Masha]

Thank you for the videos, Muman! I was snorting with laughter. What fits into Russia? The bag of Baltic baggage... 

[cjd]

It's all for the shock value.... How long would an entertainer like her last in the public eye unless she keeps coming out with new levels of craziness...Could it be she was being haunted by the spirit of Raymond Burr from the old Ironside TV show... At least Burr's acting made the shows main character wheelchair bound Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside look like he was a superman...I guess times have changed in the entertainment world... I hear plenty of talk from todays entertainers about kindness and compassion but it seems that the industry will absorb whatever garbage it takes to make a buck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironside_(TV_series)

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

I'd like to see that shemale mocking a Koranimal onstage. Fat chance.