Jack White Tries to Disown the Lady Gaga Diss He Definitely Said
Tuesday saw a where-the-hell-did-that-come-from diss, with Jack White bagging on Lady Gaga's swagger. “I don’t think she lives it because it’s all artifice," White said of Gaga's persona. "It’s all image with no meaning behind it. You can’t sink your teeth into it. It’s a sound bite. It’s very of this age, because that’s what people want.”
It felt brief—the admittedly salacious quote came from a preview snippet of a forthcoming magazine feature—and weird, but it didn't feel made-up. The source was Esquire's British edition, not the National Enquirer or even NME, which White is blaming for taking his quote out of context in a just-released statement. But still, White wants to clear things up and enjoy "Poker Face" in peace.
"I never said anything about her music, or questioned the authenticity of her songs in any way," White writes on his site. "I was in a conversation about the drawbacks of image for the sake of image, and that it is popular nowadays to not question an image in front of you, but only to label it as 'cool' or 'weird' quickly and dispose of it. I don't like my comments about Lady Gaga's presentation being changed into some sort of negative critique of her music."
He closes the missive on a conciliatory, can-we-please-move-on note: "Peace to lady gaga and I fully congratulate and compliment her on her championing of gay rights issues and the momentum it's given to help create change." (Was that a subliminal choice not to capitalize Gaga's name, Jack? Hey, easy—we're kidding!)
One thing though: Whether White wanted to go H.A.M. on Gaga's music or her image—why go there at all? Taking any part of a person's art and writing it off as having "no meaning" isn't something that washes away with a blog post, dude. Anyway, peruse the full statement and tell us your thoughts below.
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