Could Lady Gaga Be Cancelled for Blackface and a “Slave Auction”?

The photo above is of Lady Gaga, and there has been MUCH debate about its origin. Some say that it’s from a 2011 “Gay Slave” Auction in Berlin, while others state that it was from an underground sex club in Berlin in 2010, and the men in question have chocolate on their face…but how exactly is that better? Either way, she posed for photos with people in blackface. Are the where’s and why’s really that important now anyway?

Unfortunately Lady Gaga has a real problem with tone-deafness. Even in a year plagued by “woke” people still not getting it, the supposed LGBTQ icon has a tendency to put her foot in her mouth.

One of her more egregious examples comes from 2014, while on tour in Israel*. While performing a show, she stated that “the world view of Israel is just not reality.” This was shortly after Israel had bombed the Gaza Strip, killing 2000 civilians (women and children included).

And the problem is she keeps doing it. And doing it. Although granted she did apologize for the last one. Except only after people complained, and long after R. Kelly was known for being a statutory rapist and child molester (2002). And that took six years. Did she at least donate the profits from that song to Ashton Kutcher’s non-profit? After all, In 2016 her net worth was estimated $275,000,000. Forbes’ counted her as one of the highest earning musicians of the 2010’s, having earned around $500,000,000.

So, where do we go from here? Sure, she has brought a lot of national attention for advancing LGBTQ rights, but honestly, how much of that was just to sell tickets? Don’t we Queer people deserve a better icon?

Here’s some suggestions, not a definitive list:

Laverne Cox – Pretty obvious choice.
Niecy Nash – She’s hilarious and Reno 911 still makes me laugh as problematic as it is.
Elliott Page – They actually made me realize that I needed to come out as non-binary and queer, so he is my personal favorite.
Lil Nas X – Honestly other than that Old Town Road song I know very little about him.
Justice Smith – Came out during BLM protests, so far seems like a solid choice.
Auli’i Cravalho – An INDIGENOUS PERSON fuck yeah! but I doubt y’all ready for that.
Rebecca Black – I mean, we all knew Friday was a gay bop a decade ago
Rosario Dawson – I LOVE her. She came from nothing, and worked hard as fuck.
Janelle Monae – It’d be dope to get Pansexuality taken seriously

*I’m not getting into the Israel/Palestine argument here, except to say that it’s mostly England’s fault for promising the land to Palestinians in 1917 and then promising the same land to Jewish peoples after the holocaust, and then basically saying, “you figure it out” while selling arms to both sides. Which the United States also does. We profit from their deaths. But if anyone tells you that the Israel/Palestine conflict spans thousands of years you look them in the eye and you tell them that they are dumb.