Lady Gaga says she refused to deny rumors that she had a penis so that others wouldn’t feel shame

lady gaga Photo: Screenshot / Netflix

Lady Gaga recently opened up about the rumor that circulated early in her career that she had a penis, and explained why she never denied it.

Earlier this week, Netflix released the new show. What’s next? Thinking about the future with Bill GatesThe five-part series features conversations between the billionaire Microsoft founder and a range of thought leaders and celebrities about some of the most pressing challenges of our time. In the second episode, Gates tackles truth in an age of digital misinformation, and one of the experts he turns to is Lady Gaga, who has an expert on how false claims and rumors spread online.

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“So when I was in my early 20s, there were rumors that I was a man,” the “Born This Way” singer explains to Gates. “So I went all over the world. I mean, I was on tour, I was traveling promoting the record, and almost every interview I sat down for, they said there were doctored images on the internet. So they were like, I mean, ‘There’s rumors that you’re a man,’ and I was like, ‘What do you have to say about that?’

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As they According to the memo, rumors that Gaga “has both male and female genitalia,” as one shady gossip site put it at the time, likely peaked in 2009, a year after the release of her debut album. famePhotographs taken while she was performing at Glastonbury Festival in June of that year showed a bulge in her underwear, and the notoriously vicious gossip blogs of that decade used them to fuel all sorts of speculation about the singer.

August 2009, ABC News The rumours have even been reported in the press, with the pop star’s manager quoted as saying they are “completely ridiculous”.

However, Gaga herself never addressed the speculation. When asked about the rumors that she has penises, she said: by 60 minAnderson Cooper In 2011, she simply replied, “Maybe. Is it really that bad?”

“Why on earth would I waste my time writing a press release about whether or not I have a penis?” she added. “My fans don’t care and I don’t care.”

Speaking on Gates’ Netflix show, the 13-time Grammy winner explained why he didn’t deny the rumors.

“I didn’t answer the question because I didn’t see myself as a victim in that lie,” she said, “but I did wonder whether a child being accused of that would find a public figure like me embarrassing.”

“What I want to say is that I have encountered situations where I thought spreading rumors was not in the best interest of other people’s well-being,” she added. “In those cases, I tried to make them think differently and create confusion. I used misinformation to try to create another disruption.”

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