Image Credit: Image Credit: Gaga: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images; Weird Al: Lester Cohen/Getty Images
Yesterday, “Weird Al” Yankovic took to the Internet to express his frustration with Lady Gaga, who had withheld her endorsement of Al’s “I Perform This Way”), a parody of her “Born This Way.”
Though Al would have been free to release the song anyway, he doesn’t like to rankle artists and always seeks their approval. Without Gaga’s stamp, his version was relegated to the vault.
But news traveled quickly, and Al received overwhelming support for the song (which he posted to YouTube). By the time the day was out, Al’s thumbs-down had been turned right side up:
“Gaga’s manager has now admitted that he never forwarded my parody to Gaga—she had no idea at all,” Yankovic wrote on his blog. “Even though we assumed that Gaga herself was the one making the decision (because, well, that’s what we were TOLD), he apparently made the decision completely on his own. He’s sorry. And Gaga loves the song.”
The track will now appear on Al’s upcoming album, will serve as the first single and will get a proper video treatment. And he still plans to give the proceeds from the single and video to the Human Rights Campaign.
Read more at EW.com:
Lady Gaga vs. Weird Al: The road to the release of his parody of ‘Born This Way’
Lady Gaga reveals cover art for ‘Born This Way’ album: Do you like Gaga as a machine?
Lady Gaga gets nearly naked, slams haters, and defends ‘Born This Way’ in new interview
Lady Gaga is so annoying. She has made a career for herself based on copying other famous pop icons, most notably Madonna and Grace Jones. So why exactly can’t Weird Al do the same thing? And is anyone else kind of tired of straight white women exploiting the queer community for their own commercial gain?
I am.
I love him, so brilliant, and TallMatch.net was amazing
To be fair, the gay community made Madonna an icon…she didn’t proclaim herself to be one. Whereas Madonna simply said she wanted to rule the world, Gaga decided she DID rule the world. Not that Madonna wasn’t a shrewd and calculating business woman, but Gaga takes it to a level that makes Madonna seem humble and unassuming.
Gaga didn’t proclaim herself an icon for the gay community. They supported her before anyone else did. Asked her to perform at the first LOGO awards show, the Palm Springs White Party, etc. They supported her and she has gone out of her way to support them: she donates to LGBT homeless youth shelters and asks her fans to do the same at every show she plays.
not me, I want more Gaga!!!!!!!
@deedee I’ve never seen a more pressed statement in my life. I guess Gaga has the power to make some people realize how flop their lives are. *sips tea* So let’s focus on the article at hand, dear, shall we?
Funny song by Weird Al, btw.
I can appreciate Lady Gaga’s choice to be a strong ally for the LGBT cause, but she’s become its face. It would be nice if that role belonged to an actual gay man or lesbian woman instead.
“sips tea”?
what is this? i don’t even…
LGBT is just gays and lesbians its also Bisexuals and transgender…and Lady Gaga is Bisexual Soooo…
*isn’t.
excuse my sucky grammar :\
Yes! Thank you! No other community has “honorary members” the way the queer community does. Coupled with the fact that many LGBT people stay in the closet long past when its necessary and I think it’s a real problem. I would never be allowed to be like “Hey, I’m an honorary Filipino!” and I have the good taste not to do that anyway. Allies are great, but don’t pretend you understand the experience of something if you haven’t lived it.
Well now I can go on with my life… whew!
Does anyone else think this is a marketing ploy by Weird Al? I mean come on, why did he have to blurt all this out. She obviously didn’t care but I’m sure other artists have denied their permission.
Not as many artists turn him down as you would think. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Prince. (Al’s “You’re Pitiful” was ixnayed due to James Blunt’s record company; the singer himself actually approved it.)
Seen Al do “You’re Pitiful” live. One of his best parodies ever, up there with “Yoda” and “Lost On Jeopardy”
Probably and it worked
He was miffed because he had a green light from them initially, then they apparently backed out. I’d be frustrated too to put work in and have the rug pulled out from me.
I just think it’s crazy (in a good way) that he’s still going strong after 25 years. I remember being a kid watching his “like a surgeon” and “eat it” videos and my parents (the adults in the room) writing him off as a strange fluke.
Shut up.
The power of Twitter…
Weird al is cool and dosent need this “publicity” as he has leigons of followers who love him have shown their kids the greatness of al and will show their kids kids. He has a bunch of good stuff look up chicken pot pie (Paul mccartnys live and let die) great song. Just great lady gaga should thank him!
well now we can move on from this strange story
Way to work it, Weird Al.
Prof, many people say no. He went through the James Blunt thing a while back. But you know who always comes out on top?
At least Gaga now gets to be part of a music phenomenon that has been around for 35 years.
ROCK IT!
Many people DO NOT refuse. Prince and Paul McCartney are really it. In Blunt’s case it was his label that said no. Coolio didn’t say no until after his people had said yes and the song was out. McCartney said no because he’s a vegan and the subject of the parody was meat. Otherwise he had no problem with it. Eminem said no on a video, but not on the song. The truth is that most people see it as a badge of honor and the untimate flattery to be pardied by Al, including Michael jackson and Kurt Cobain.
Well said.
Agreed. In the Nirvana Behind the Music episode, the guys said they knew they’d made it when Al did “Smells Like Nirvana”. Cobain loved that the song was about how people didn’t understand their lyrics.
I knew it. Say what you will about Gaga’s music or (lack of) originality, but she’s a shrewd businesswoman and she’d know better than to court bad publicity by turning down a Weird Al parody.
This is just like what happened with Jane Goodall and the Far Side comic. Stupid minions thinking they can speak for their famous employers.
So it’s her manager that’s an ass.
Common stuff. Jon Stewart’s manager Jim Dixon turned me down from directing him in a serious role in a feature film. I’m now producing one with the three biggest stars of the mob-related Hollywood blockbusters audiences love, and I’ll be directing them. Good work there, Jim. Maybe Chris McShane can direct Stewart in something.
Right, because people directing serious feature films usually frequent EW comments on stories about Weird Al in order to gossip about Jon Stewart turning down a serious role. Jon Stewart who is a comedian. Jon Stewart who frequently makes fun of his own acting abilities. Hmmm
To below: Oh, I see, no wait – I’m too busy riding in a limousine and never have time to go online, none of us does, ever. You’d actually be surprised how many of us frequent EW. I’d out myself but you’re not worth it. Naming yourself after Jon’s daughter, hmm. Google is your friend and research is helpful. Also, get off the cocaine.
you are a gigantic prick there nyu film maker
you ever thought about drinking bleach?
People who work in the industry know that a star’s “people” can make mistakes like this. They also know that when an artist is on tour and releasing a new cd and singles at the same time, that dealing with a non-related request like Weird Al’s would not be a priority for them. You can also tell by Weird Al’s blog that he was in a time crunch for HIS deadline, but Gaga’s team is focusing on HER deadlines. Such is the entertainment industry.
Yeah man – that’s ridiculous. Fire that guy. She got a lot of heat for not allowing it.
I think that Lady Gaga is just using her manager as a scape goat. I would almost guarantee you that she was the one who said NO to begin with and then she changed her tune when it was clear that she looked like an a** for declining him permission. I smell a cover-up…
I agree, that was my first thought. Her track record is not clean (Lina Morgana anyone?). She is a shrewd businesswoman who will stomp on anyone to get her way. And publicity is her best friend so when it started to make her look bad, she threw her manager under the bus to try and fix the image.
I totally agree, although I bet the manager was savvy enough to /choose/ to take the fall to protect his/her client. I find it hard to believe that Weird Al really buys this, but he’s got nothing to gain by picking a further fight with Gaga’s camp; he’s gotten free publicity, permission to include his parody, and has made Lady Gaga look like she has no sense of humor. Win win!
If I were Gaga, and my manager did this completely without my knowledge, said manager would have no job in very short order. Of COURSE she’s backtracking.
I *totally* agree. I think Gaga was too busy to bother, until the news came out two days ago. THEN she started caring and her manager said “ooh ooh I’ll take the blame boss!”
It seems like Entertainment Weekly should change its name to Lady Ga Ga Daily. I really don’t have anything against this woman but really EW you cover her every single move. Can we give it a rest for a little while?
If Lady Gaga and the cast of Glee recorded a song for the last Twilight film, Ew.com would explode.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
WIN! Especially if they all sang it on American Idol.
That would be an EW editor’s wet dream come true.
HAHAHAHAHA!!! hilarious
Can Charlie Sheen be in the music video??
Come on, you’re going to give poor Kenny a heart attack.
Yes, Charlie Sheen and Justin Beiber.
This “story” on EW was posted and then less than two hours later ANOTHER Lady Ca Ca story was posted. Welcome to EW were it is all Ca Ca all the time.
You forget to mention her duet with EW’s other pick for Best Musical Performer of All Time: Taylor Swift.
Clicking on the article and commenting on it is the SUREST way to tell them that you DO want to hear more.
Amen. I’ll drink to that.
I think Weird AL is that much more awesome for donating proceeds to the HRC. I’m glad it all worked out for that reason.
I’d sooner listen to Weird Al than this Madonna ripoff.
I want to know Gaga’s position on Lady Caca’s parodies. Check Youtube. If you don’t die laughing over “Bad Stomach” (Gastroriginal Mix) something is wrong with you.
Just a thought: but maybe they were in it together to generate enough publicity so that they can maximize the amount of proceeds to HRC because they are good people…hmm?
Doesn’t look like anyone else thinks so. But who knows, maybe!