The MTV Video Music Awards have always featured some intriguing fashion choices, but last week’s 2010 VMAs produced what can arguably be called the most controversial statement in recent memory – the Jeffery Dahmer tribute dress worn by pop icon Lady Gaga.
“I am not a piece of meat,” Gaga told reporters who asked about her getup. “The girls who were murdered and cannibalized by Mr. Dahmer, however, were. Delicious, delicious pieces of meat. I think we need to do a better job of recognizing that.”
Gaga’s dress was not actually made of human flesh, as confirmed by her publicist and the head of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America, commonly known as the American Butchers’ Union. Marty Thompson, current president of the American Butchers’ Union, said he could easily identify the various cuts used in Gaga’s dress as bovine in origin.
“I appreciate that she’s giving us free advertising like that,” Thompson said, “but I feel like she could have used some better cuts than she did. She tended to take the crappy bits, if you look closely. Maybe she’s saving the fillets for the Oscars.”
Few are surprised to find PETA at the forefront of protests against Lady Gaga’s latest stunt. Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA, registered disgust with the outfit during an interview with E! News.
“Seeing the poor mutilated carcasses of all those cows, worn with such a devil-may-care attitude, is simply abhorrent,” she said. “Those beautiful animals had no choice in their slaughter, and aside from all else I expect they smelled horrible after a few hours under the hot stage lights. I think Gaga needs to consider her clothing materials more carefully. Especially in a Dahmer dress, using the bodies of young girls instead of cows would be much more humane and appropriate. At least they’re intelligent enough to understand the social importance of mindless murder, whereas a cow
knows only confusion and fear when slaughtered. It’s much different with humans.”
Asked about other social concerns she might be addressing through fashion, Lady Gaga surprised
some reporters and critics with her stated desire for continuity.
“Honestly, I want to stick with this one for a while. I think I can make the statement even more belligerently shocking next time. Not to give any of the specifics away, but I’m already working with my stylists on a few sketches, and there are enough people inside the grounds of my estates that I won’t lack for materials. So go ahead and chew on those little tidbits… you know I will. Gaga out.”
