Very few Lady Gaga performances occur free of controversy. However, this year’s Super Bowl hasn’t even started yet, and already the Super Bowl 51 halftime performer is stirring things up.
Entertainment Tonight reported that Lady Gaga, who supported Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, received word from the NFL that she could not talk politics during her performance.
However, the NFL and Lady Gaga’s representatives say that never happened. Natalie Ravitz, senior vice president of communication for the NFL told CNN, “It’s false. This is unsourced nonsense from people trying to stir up controversy where there is none.
“The Super Bowl is a time when people really come together. Lady Gaga is focused on putting together an amazing show for fans and we love working with her on it; we aren’t going to be distracted by this.”
The report also noted that, “Representatives for Lady Gaga confirmed the NFL’s statement.”
This sounds a lot like the NFL has accused Entertainment Tonight of peddling fake news. So, what really happened here? Perhaps the NFL, still smarting over dramatic ratings losses due to the social justice activism of their players, in addition to Beyonce’s performance of the anti-cop son “Formation” at last year’s Super Bowl, probably went to Gaga’s people and told them to keep everything free of politics then went head and leaked the story to ET. After all, why would ET make this up? Furthermore, why would Gaga’s people want it out there that they got cowed by the corporatists and PR flunkies at the NFL? The leak had to come from the NFL.
Unless, of course, Gaga’s people wanted to create the illusion that she had gotten muzzled, making it all the more rebellious when she extends the proverbial finger to the corporatists by ripping Donald Trump on the biggest stage in the world.
Either way, you might want to keep an eye on the halftime show this year.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn
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