Lady Gaga Criticised By American Charities For Using Wheelchair As Prop

Any thoughts on this, readers?

She has been criticised for her use of religious symbolism, slammed for some of her song lyrics and had animal rights groups up in arms over her meat dress.

But Lady Gaga might have pushed her critics over the edge last night after she came on stage in Australia in a wheelchair.

The able-bodied star has caused outrage among disability groups after she wheeled herself on in front of 1,000 people at the Sydney Town Hall.

Six songs into the ten song set, Gaga went off for a costume change and came on in a wheelchair wearing a PVC mermaid tail before launching into her single You And I.

But although her fans went crazy for the performance, it was met with disapproval from some disability organisations and advocacy groups.

In a statement to RadarOnline, Jesse Billauer, founder of the Life Rolls On Foundation, fumed: ‘I haven’t seen Lady Gaga’s performance, but respect her artistic expression as an artist.

‘Since this isn’t the first time she has used a wheelchair in her performances, I invite her to learn more about the 5.6 million Americans who live with paralysis.

‘I extend a personal invitation to Lady Gaga to attend one of our Life Rolls On events where quadriplegics and paraplegics surf, skate, and snowboard, so she can see how much is possible beyond a wheelchair.

‘Maybe that will be most shocking to her of all. They, like me, unfortunately, don’t use a wheelchair for shock value.’

And The Roman Reed Foundation, which promotes spinal cord injury research, took to its Twitter page to write: ‘Dear @ladygaga how about using your celebrity status 2 try 2 get us out of wheelchairs. Instead of cruising one. Cool?!’

This isn’t the first time Gaga has used a wheelchair as a prop – she is seen being wheeled into a hotel in the video for her hit song Paparazzi wearing a neck brace after being pushed off a balcony by her lover.

Speaking to Vanity Fair at the time, she said the video was meant to ‘show the hilarity to which people will fame-whore themselves.’

And she added: ‘I had girls in wheelchairs crying to me at meet-and-greets, telling me that when they saw that video it changed their lives.’

But Gaga is not the first music artists to use a wheelchair as a prop and many said she had ripped off Bette Midler’s famous stage character Delores Delago, a beached mermaid that appears on stage in a wheelchair.

And at the 1992 Reading Festival, the late Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana frontman was wheeled on to the stage for their headlining set in a dig at journalists who had accused Kurt of being a drug addict and had made speculations about his mental health.

Having failed to make a comment about her wheelchair stunt, Gaga jetted out of Sydney this morning.

And unlike other stars on long-haul flights who opt for comfy clothes for the journey, Gaga left the country in a black leather dress and towering Louboutin heels.

But it was her hat that stood out as she got out of her car and made her way to the terminal blowing kisses to her fans.

The huge black and white straw hat appeared to have a huge rip in it, which she looked out of as she walked through the airport.

I recently covered the news that Lady Gaga is learning Sign Language because she wants to communicate with her Deaf fans. Surely someone who is prepared to go through so much effort to make one group of disabled people feel included in her music wouldn’t be trying to offend another group of disabled people? Has anyone considered the fact that she might have been trying to make wheelchair users in her audience feel included, welcomed, or even- shock horror- cool?