Lady Gaga dismisses longtime creative director Laurieann Gibson
Afterhip-hop gossip site MediaTakeOut reported that the two recently had a bitter fight, a source close to Gibson confirmed to Pop & Hiss late Sunday that the choreographerindeed had been dismissed by Gaga.
Their partnership goes back to2007, whenGagawas a newsignee at Interscope Records. Thoughthe singer'svocal ability and musicianship was always there,Gibsonhas beencredited by manywith shaping the then-struggling singer into the multiplatinum, Grammy-winning performer of today.
Gibson recalled the pair's initial conversations during an interview with The Timesin 2010. She came to me like, 'I got dropped and I dont really know if I have it in me to know what I need to do to make my dream come true.' And then she played me her record and I said, 'Listen, Ive got enough for the both of us, lets go. We started designing her opinion as a live performer and what that would be, what the records would feel like visually. How would 'Just Dance' turn into 'Poker Face,' into 'Bad Romance' and now the 'Monster Ball' [tour].
As Gaga rolled out her latest album, Born This Way, Gibson balanced the proj! ect with a few of her own: she launched the BET dance competition show "Born to Dance," E!'s dance reality show "The Dance Scene," and directed Gagas Emmy-winning HBO concert special.
During an interview with Gibsonearlier this year,Pop & Hiss asked her thoughts on Gagas ongoing comparison to Madonna. It was a small reference that led to a firestorm of controversy whenthe piece ran in May. Speaking of the ways in which she modeled Gaga's visual aesthetic on Madonna's work, Gibson said that Madonna "should be bitter, because I did it on purpose, and you can quote me. I did it on purpose because for all those kids who believe that you cant, I wanted to let them feel that you can. And thats what I represent, thats what Gaga represents.
Blogs immediately ran with the quote and took it as Gibson saying they copy the singer, which led to some Little Monsters attackingthe creative directoron Twitter.
A handful of outlets, including MediaTakeOut, Entertainment Weekly and the Hollywood Reporter have referenced the comments as the beginning of a fallout between the two. The rift seemed to continue once Gibson began directing Gagas videos.
During the filming of Judas,Gibson openly stated that the clip'ssexualized religious imagery made her uncomfortable, and her comments on the video for The Edge of Glorysparked a Twitter tirade between Gibson and fansthat continued when she quoted another commenter's disappointment over the final clipone who thought a Google Chrome commercial was better than the video.
listen u disrespectful... they had an issue on set I don't lie!!!!!" and "creative Changes happen always educate ignorant Monster's!!!,! " she wr ote on the Twitter handle that was recently deleted she has a new, protected one.
Richard Jackson, who was Gibson's second in command and often featured on her reality shows, is now choreographing Gaga's performances.
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Gerrick D. Kennedy
Photo: Laurieann Gibson on the set of Lady Gaga's "Judas" video shoot. Credit:Stefano Paltera / Los Angeles Times