Demi Lovato Says Lady Gaga Crossed Line with SXSW Bulimia Stunt

Christina Drill
March 17, 2014

Lady Gaga is known for performances that cause a scene, but at SXSW in Austin this weekend Lady Gaga pulled a stunt that threw a few people, Demi Lovato included, into a bit of a tizzy. Lady Gaga's SXSW performance began with a lady eating sausages on stage and ended with London-based performance artist Millie Brown drinking colored milk, sticking her fingers down her throat, and vomiting the green liquid all over Lady Gaga and the stage. It is difficult to handle art sometimes.

“Sad,” Lovato tweeted on Friday night in response to the performance. “@ladygaga you’re SO talented, if not one of the most talented in our industry PERIOD. Dope is INCREDIBLE. but you don’t have to do that.”

Both Lady Gaga and Demi Lovato have spoken publicly about their personal battles with anorexia and bulimia, but “that doesn’t make it OKAY,” Lovato proceeded to explain on her Twitter. “If I do a speech about self-harm [can I] proceed to watch someone cut themselves on my stage? No.”

After some Twitter backlash from a bunch of little monsters Demi explained in a longer statement why she felt the need to speak out about this:

“All I’m saying is, artists in pop culture have influence on people,” Lovato continued in a longer statement. “Bulimia isn’t cool, and it won’t get you on stage with your favorite artist ... [But] young people who are struggling to figure out their identities are seriously influenced by the things they see their idols do ... [and] some of [them] are people who aren’t capable of understanding the art that is that is expressed by their idols... Putting the word ART in it isn’t a free card to do whatever you want without consequences. I could call [my eating disorders] art too.”

Demi has a point-- getting a hot girl to throw up green vomit on stage at a Lady Gaga concert sure does make bulimia look as cool as it possibly can. There are going to be a lot of "Little Monsters" watching who don't understand that Lady Gaga is actually speaking out against eating disorders by glamorizing them. *Rolls eyes at Lady Gaga forever until the end of time for even thinking this was a good idea*

Demi Lovato was admitted to rehab in 2010 for anorexia, bulimia, and self-harming, and has since become an outspoken activist against these diseases. In 2012, Lady Gaga went public about her struggles with eating disorders by launching her Body Revolution campaign, releasing a photo of her captioned with the words "bulimia and anorexia since I was fifteen."

So far, Lady Gaga hasn't responded to Demi Lovato's statement, but Millie Brown, the vomiting artist, did: “I believe in absolute freedom of expression,” Brown tweeted. “If art is your communication it should not be censored.”