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Dare To Be Stupid
Apr. 21st, 2011 11:22 amRight, so if you read my journal, obviously you're connected into the same subcultures that have been abuzz with the shortest musical feud ever. 'Weird' Al was asked to jump through hoops by Lady Gaga's management in order to get her approval for a parody of her new song on his next album. Following said hoop jumping, Gaga's camp said no, prompting 'Weird' Al to just publish his version on YouTube for free. Apparently, as the news hit, Lady Gaga herself intervened, stating she'd never heard the song, and it was her management that rejected it out of hand. She has since granted her permission.
Got all that? Good. Now, here's where it is getting *ahem* weird.
There is now an apparent backlash against 'Weird' Al for being homophobic, and his decision to donate the proceeds of the song to the Human Rights Campaign is a direct attack on the transgender and queer community. Now, I'm well aware that there's been a serious split in the LGBT community on the HRC since the fiasco over the 2007 ENDA. I'm also well aware that Lady Gaga is an icon in the LGBT community (although there seems to be a split over her as well) and that criticism of her is often filtered through the spectrum of homophobia. But jumping to the parody being homophobic in intention and the donations to the HRC as a backhanded swipe at the transgender community from the outside perspective looks like manufactured outrage for the sake of outrage. The parody is very obviously about her nutjob outfits and stage spectacle, and the decision to donate the proceeds was motivated by Yankovic being uncomfortable profiting from tweaking a song that is being hailed as an LGBT anthem (again, correctly or not. There appears to be some debate). It's a shame that it's not even a particularly good parody to generate the controversy.
I guess 'Weird' Al's just lucky he didn't decide to make fun of 'Glee'.
Got all that? Good. Now, here's where it is getting *ahem* weird.
There is now an apparent backlash against 'Weird' Al for being homophobic, and his decision to donate the proceeds of the song to the Human Rights Campaign is a direct attack on the transgender and queer community. Now, I'm well aware that there's been a serious split in the LGBT community on the HRC since the fiasco over the 2007 ENDA. I'm also well aware that Lady Gaga is an icon in the LGBT community (although there seems to be a split over her as well) and that criticism of her is often filtered through the spectrum of homophobia. But jumping to the parody being homophobic in intention and the donations to the HRC as a backhanded swipe at the transgender community from the outside perspective looks like manufactured outrage for the sake of outrage. The parody is very obviously about her nutjob outfits and stage spectacle, and the decision to donate the proceeds was motivated by Yankovic being uncomfortable profiting from tweaking a song that is being hailed as an LGBT anthem (again, correctly or not. There appears to be some debate). It's a shame that it's not even a particularly good parody to generate the controversy.
I guess 'Weird' Al's just lucky he didn't decide to make fun of 'Glee'.
