Lady Gaga is again raising eyebrows for a costume. This time, she left the meat in the butcher’s shop and donned a bra featuring fake assault rifles, in her first North American performance since the Sandy Hook shootings. The singer kicked off another leg of her “Born This Way Ball” in Canada on Friday.
Like most of Gaga’s undertakings, the gun bra is merely a recycled version of an iconic pop culture image: Madonna’s cone bra. The “Born This Way” singer appears to be placing an esoteric, albeit violent spin on the costume Madonna famously debuted during the 1990 “Blond Ambition” tour.
Yet, a lack of originality is the costume’s mildest crime. As Gaga initially supported gun regulations after the Sandy Hook tragedy, gun control activists are attacking her for the mixed message. Ladd Everitt, a representative for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, commented to the New York Post “It’s almost like she’s telling her fans, ‘The only way I can stimulate you is to show you guns and violence.'”
While Gaga could have possibly meant the costume as a comment on the recent string of gun violence across the nation, she would do well to clarify her message, especially when the costume melds violence so seamlessly with sexuality.
The gun bra controversy is the second for Gaga this week, as she continued her beef with the Osbournes in an open letter. Matriarch Sharon had initially contacted the singer, asking Gaga to tell her mobs of zealous twitter followers to stop bullying daughter Kelly.
Gaga did not deter her little monsters, but rather attacked the formerly-overweight Kelly for her work on Joan Rivers’ Fashion Police, “To see you blossoming into a beautiful slender woman who makes fun of others for a living is astounding. Why not help others? Why not defend others who are bullied for their image and share your story?”
The Osbourne camp has yet to respond to this latest Gaga accusation, or comment on the gun bra controversy.
