‘CULTURE VULTURE’

Grammy-Winning Icon Blasts ‘Disrespectful’ Lady Gaga

The R&B Hall of Famer says the “Paparazzi” singer owes her an apology.

Grammy winner Stephanie Mills has hit out at Lady Gaga, saying she believes the singer owes her an apology.

The Broadway icon played Dorothy in the original 1975 stage production of The Wiz and sang the show’s hit, “Home,” on her 1989 album.

The 69-year-old told The Jason Lee Show that a former manager told her that “Home” was Gaga’s favorite song and asked if she’d sing for her as a surprise while the 40-year-old “Paparazzi” singer did a photoshoot in New York years ago. She declined at first, but was later convinced, and it didn’t go as planned, according to Mills.

“She didn’t smile. She didn’t do anything. She looked at me like I had two heads,” Mills told Lee.

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Mills says she wasn’t paid for the performance, as Gaga’s team promised the fashion photographer would also stage a photoshoot for her.

She says after she performed she took photos with Gaga, but as Mills was about to leave, Gaga’s team told her she had to delete “all those pictures.”

“Very disrespectful,” Lee responded.

“That’s why I say she’s a culture vulture,” Mills agreed, referring to how Black music studio executives—Troy Carter, Akon, and Vincent Herbert—discovered and managed the 16-time Grammy Award-winning singer, but she allegedly disrespected a veteran Black R&B artist to her face.

Lee then asked how she maintains grace after experiences like the awkward Gaga incident.

She said she knows who she is—someone who “gives everybody respect”—and that she used to admire Gaga before the incident.

“I’ve learned throughout the years to take my temperature down and not react, but show them who I am later,” Mills said. Sooner or later, Mills said, “You’ll get your chance to say, ‘Do you remember?’”

Mills seemed to see her interview with Lee as that chance, because she concluded the topic saying she hopes Gaga watches the episode.

“I hope you watch and I hope you remember what you did,” Mills said. “And I feel like you owe me an apology.”

Mills won a 1981 Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her hit “Never Knew Love Like This Before,” and a 1982 American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist. She’s had five No. 1 hits on the Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, including “Home,” “I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love,” “I Feel Good All Over,” “(You’re Puttin’) A Rush on Me,” and “Something in the Way (You Make Me Feel).”

She was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2019.

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