http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=218498

 

I'm just surprised that anyone is trying to pretend they didn't know about him. He's had a well-known pattern for decades now.

 

You have to wonder how many people she fired in anger for letting her ever do this as she wants to sweep the awards season...

Lady Gaga has apologized for her 2013 collaboration with R. Kelly and promised to remove the song "Do What U Want" from iTunes and all streaming services.

 

"I stand behind these women 1000%, believe them, know they are suffering and in pain, and feel strongly that their voices should be heard and taken seriously," Gaga told her fans. "What I am hearing about the allegations against R. Kelly is absolutely horrifying and indefensible."

 

She continued: "As a victim of sexual assault myself, I made both the song and video at a dark time in my life, my intention was to create something extremely defiant and provocative because I was angry and still hadn’t processed the trauma that had occurred in my own life. The song is called 'Do What U Want (With My Body),' I think it's clear how explicitly twisted my thinking was at the time. If I could go back and have a talk with my younger self I'd tell her to go through the therapy I have since then, so that I could understand the confused post-traumatic state that I was in- or if therapy was not available to me or anyone in my situation-to seek help, and speak as openly and honestly as possible about what we’ve been through.

 

Gaga then promised to remove the song, which served as the second single from ARTPOP and was later re-recorded with Christina Aguilera, from iTunes and streaming platforms.

 

She added: "I can't go back, but I can go forward and continue to support women, men, and people of all sexual identities, and of all races, who are victims of sexual assault. I have demonstrated my stance on this issue and others many times throughout my career. I share this not to make excuses for myself, but to explain. Til it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels. But I do know how I feel now. I intend to remove this song off of iTunes and other streaming platforms and will not be working with him again. I’m sorry, both for my poor judgment when I was young, and for not speaking out sooner. I love you."

 

 

Good to see that she's spoken out about this, taking responsibility for the decision she made at the time and apologised.

 

Not surprising that she's made the call to have the song removed, but I wonder if that'll include the Christina Aguilera version too? It's just, R. Kelly has a songwriting credit, so he'd stand to continue earning off the song if Christina's version remains up. Hmm~

Yet, it will always be seen as a cynical awards ploy.

 

It must all bug her endlessly - why didn't she pull it before? Or for GaGa - couldn't they wait until March to air that damn documentary?

 

There's literally no good way around it for her, but I guess this is what she had to go with. Bless.

I literally haven't listened to the R Kelly version in years so that can stay pressed/cancelled. The Xtine version remains a bop

Honestly, in a weird way I find this fascinating - because I don't think there's a way she could've responded to this appropriately without coming off as cynical.

 

How would YOU have responded to this?

It's such a shame she couldn't have just had ANYONE other than R. Kelly on that song.

Hopefully the Xtina version remains up (which presumably R Kelly wouldn't have any credit on as I imagine he only wrote his verse which the lyrics to got replaced?) but that article makes it seem like she regrets the song altogether so I imagine that'll be removed too.

Hopefully the Xtina version remains up (which presumably R Kelly wouldn't have any credit on as I imagine he only wrote his verse which the lyrics to got replaced?) but that article makes it seem like she regrets the song altogether so I imagine that'll be removed too.

 

She credited him on every version so they'll likely delete all traces of it.

 

Her statement is heartfelt and exactly what was needed from her. It's still one of my favourite Gaga songs but this is the right thing to do.

It always didn't sit right with me how the lyrics were empowering for anyone who's the victim of a sexual assault. I'm glad it wasn't just me being naive and that Gaga agrees too that it was a questionable stance to take. I think this the first song in my memory since I've been following popular music that a song has been taken down or looked back on in a bad light so that will be an odd feeling, especially as it was a major song in the ARTPOP era and a reasonably popular song with the GP. Does sound like it is for the best whatever way you look at it and I think her approach to tackling this has been spot on.

 

Just waiting for artists to do the same with 6ix9ine in the future...

Yet, it will always be seen as a cynical awards ploy.

 

It must all bug her endlessly - why didn't she pull it before? Or for GaGa - couldn't they wait until March to air that damn documentary?

 

There's literally no good way around it for her, but I guess this is what she had to go with. Bless.

:rolleyes: bore off.

 

---

I like that she's apologised. For me as long as she wasn't the one doing the assault and/or making excuses for him, I can forgive her/anyone else in her position. It was 6 years ago and she has spoken about her state of mind during ARTPOP numerous times before. She's apologised and you can tell how genuine it is. It's just pissing me off that she is the only one to be receiving the backlash for a song with him, when there's literally about 10+ other artists who have done the same and haven't been under fire for it.

 

Now I'm waiting for Rami Malek's apology for working with Bryan Singer

I think the statement was pretty much expected (although that "when I was young" bothers me, as it was 6 years ago) and as DWUW is not her tour staple etc it wasn't probably a tough decision to make for her, also because the solo version and Xtina duet exist too.

 

 

People were young (and dumb x) all those years back. It's why I (personally) don't agree with James Gunn's backlash and Kevin Hart's Oscars backlash. It'd be very different if they were unapologetic or their tweets were recent, but they thankfully were apologetic and have had to apologise for it many a time before the backlash started. You can clearly tell how much they've grown and changed as people. People do change and for the better.

 

James Gunn's in particular. It was just very dark jokes. Pretty sure I and others on here have joked and laughed at very similar/worse memes etc..

 

I am not forgiving, however, if A- they're not apologetic for their words and/or actions, B- they stand up for the accuser despite plenty of evidence suggesting otherwise (*cough*Nicki*cough*) or C- their actions were inexcusable (R Kelly, Chris Brown, Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, Bryan Singer, XXXTentacion, 6ix9ine etc..)

 

So Gaga working with R Kelly despite it being known that he was that sort of person, is forgivable, for the fact she has apologised and you can quite clearly tell she meant it, imo.

I'm not gonna be a blind stan here, it was and still is disappointing that she worked with him. As said, it's always been known what he was (and this documentary is just unearthing even more details). However, she clearly had regrets pretty much the whole time, what with the whole Xtina version thing and cancelling the video, and apologising and taking the song down is about all she can do to show that. Of course, she shouldn't have worked with him in the first place when whispers of his appalling acts were always around but I hate that the women who mistakenly worked with or supported these men are getting more flack than some of the actual men :lol: As said in her statement, it was a tough time in her life and something that brings back really bad memories, you can tell how much it means to her. She is clearly being totally genuine, she can't go back and change working with him or erase the song from existence and everyone's minds, what else is she meant to do?!

 

At the heart of it all, why don't people channel this energy towards the actual abusers and paedos instead of a woman who has clearly regretted working with him this whole time? It's so tiring that in this world, every little thing from years ago is pulled up for certain people, yet so many awful people are still allowed to get away with the actual things they've done. Like Jonjo said, if she had been making excuses the whole time and fervently supporting him as a friend or something I'd understand it a lot more. Plus exactly, SO many artists (Beyonce, Jay-Z, Jennifer Hudson and Justin Bieber, for one) have worked with him and aren't getting the same flack for it. It's easy to say it's a ploy for awards season, but what was she supposed to do? Stay quiet until after the Oscars and keep getting shit for it?! I think it's just one of those things where it happens to co-incide at probably not the best time, the documentary series being on while she is in the spotlight for ASIB at award ceremonies. She had to speak out and she has, I don't and couldn't want more than that. It's a very different thing to have (probably apprehensively, given how she has clearly always felt) worked with someone than to have actually abused someone, supported them or made light of the situations.

I'm not gonna be a blind stan here, it was and still is disappointing that she worked with him. As said, it's always been known what he was (and this documentary is just unearthing even more details). However, she clearly had regrets pretty much the whole time, what with the whole Xtina version thing and cancelling the video, and apologising and taking the song down is about all she can do to show that. Of course, she shouldn't have worked with him in the first place when whispers of his appalling acts were always around but I hate that the women who mistakenly worked with or supported these men are getting more flack than some of the actual men :lol: As said in her statement, it was a tough time in her life and something that brings back really bad memories, you can tell how much it means to her. She is clearly being totally genuine, she can't go back and change working with him or erase the song from existence and everyone's minds, what else is she meant to do?!

 

At the heart of it all, why don't people channel this energy towards the actual abusers and paedos instead of a woman who has clearly regretted working with him this whole time? It's so tiring that in this world, every little thing from years ago is pulled up for certain people, yet so many awful people are still allowed to get away with the actual things they've done. Like Jonjo said, if she had been making excuses the whole time and fervently supporting him as a friend or something I'd understand it a lot more. Plus exactly, SO many artists (Beyonce, Jay-Z, Jennifer Hudson and Justin Bieber, for one) have worked with him and aren't getting the same flack for it. It's easy to say it's a ploy for awards season, but what was she supposed to do? Stay quiet until after the Oscars and keep getting shit for it?! I think it's just one of those things where it happens to co-incide at probably not the best time, the documentary series being on while she is in the spotlight for ASIB at award ceremonies. She had to speak out and she has, I don't and couldn't want more than that. It's a very different thing to have (probably apprehensively, given how she has clearly always felt) worked with someone than to have actually abused someone, supported them or made light of the situations.

 

Yes, the focus should be on the abuser. Women are always at fault when things like this happen and she's just the most prominent one right now. I agree with holding people accountable, and she should have made the statement sooner, but it can be counterproductive when it distracts from the main issue. At least the press can move on and focus on R Kelly himself again.

 

My problem was always the fact that the song, feature, potential video and director were clearly misguided and calculated attempts at creating something as controversial as possible. She and her team knew what they were doing. Thankfully the video wasn't released, she has different management and is clearly in a much better headspace.

Edited January 10, 20196 yr by blacksquare

Yeh, wasn’t she in a really bad headspace during the whole ARTPOP era? Not really excusing collaborating with that but, yeh, people are waaaaay too happy to blame others.

 

(songs still great)

Also, no one’s coming for Ignition being played at every single club every single night or that 2014 remix of Bump and Grind.

Women are always at fault when things like this happen and she's just the most prominent one right now.

 

The woman card? Really? REALLY?

 

She released Til It Happens To You not long after the ArtPop "era". Come on. And yes, she's the most prominent ARTIST right now due to her Oscar campaign - so it's not exactly surprising she's getting called out since she's everywhere in the press. I'm sure she wishes that this series would've aired in March. Let's not get it twisted here; it's not like she's resting quietly at home and this comes up to bother her...

This has been playing on my mind a lot today. It makes me so uncomfortable and angry that Gaga gets the flack amongst all the R Kelly allegations. Really sums up society's views towards women and rape.