GaGa On MJ: ”I really believed that the world killed him”.

God bless you, LG. How desperately those of us that love him crave hearing such compassionate words about him. I believe, too, that the world killed him. He was too sensitive and beautiful for the cynicism, derision and ridicule that permeates much of our lives now but she affirms that there is still empathy and caring in people like her.
Thank you for this, Darren & Bonnie.

Thanks for posting. Since there may be some confusion about what Lady Gaga said (and what Darren Hayes said), I thought I’d clarify. Plus, I thought this portion of Gaga’s interview was interesting and worth transcribing-so we can get a better sense of the context of her interview on the Howard Stern show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc0NAOErcNw#t=6175

Howard Stern Show : Lady Gaga Full Interview +
Live Performance 1

Published on Nov 12, 2013

Around 55:20: [Lady Gaga’s song “Telephone” is playing in the background of the interview]:

Stern: “I read that you’re a big Michael Jackson collector, like you
collect memorabilia…

Gaga: Yes.

Stern: How many millions of dollars have you spent on Michael Jackson’s
stuff?

Gaga: Ummm.. I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to say.

Stern: Millions…

Gaga: Millions, yeah.

Stern: Why is that so important to you… I mean, I can understand why
it’s important to you as an artist, but why to own his stuff?

Gaga: Because I care about him, and I care about what he……. I’m sorry,
can you turn “Telephone” off while I’m talking about Michael Jackson?

Stern: You don’t like this song? OK.

Gaga: No, I do, it’s my…. He deserves silence.

Stern: You’re right. You’re right. Go ahead.

Gaga: Um…. He’s just… he’s such a… he was … oh, it’s so sad that he’s
not here anymore.

Stern: Right.

Gaga: I’m such a huge fan, I love him so much like I knew him, but I
didn’t. And he was such an inspiration to me my whole life. And I really feel
the world killed him. Because I believe so strongly that he died from a broken
heart.

Stern: A broken heart that the world was accusing him of what, child
molestation?

Gaga: Yeah, all the accusations, he wasn’t, you know… he was so famous,
he couldn’t go anywhere. And a broken heart, because I believe so much that he just loved to perform for people and make them happy. And this is the thing
that … you know, I really urge everyone who’s listening today to really
consider the difference between an artist and, you know, Kim Kardashian. And an artist and any reality show star or a famous socialite….

Stern: The lines are getting confused.

Gaga: The lines are getting confused because the media talks about us
all on the same shows, and they compare all of the way we look and things like this, but the truth is we’re very, very different, and we exist in this
business for very different things, and it’s the intentions that are getting
muddled.

Stern: Right. Putting Michael Jackson in the same category as Kim
Kardashian makes no sense.

Gaga: It makes no sense.

Stern: You make a good point, right.

Gaga: So, you know, I think that it’s the frustration for the artist of
being harassed, not because they can’t take the heat of you not liking their
music, but being harassed because the age is changing, and I know that I DO
feel a sense of sadness and depression about where we are as a culture in the music business. It’s not necessarily about what people think about me or what I’m making, but it’s about what they think of all of us, and how they treat all of us, and how it’s more important for us to move towards a place where we’re treating at and looking at the artist and the celebrity as two different
things. And so the reason I bought Michael’s clothes was because my tour
clothes mean more to me than anything that I wear. I mean more than what I wore to award shows…

Stern: What do you do with those, do you save them?

Gaga: I save them all, and they mean so much to me because I spend, I
spend—you know, I do a hundred and fifteen shows in these outfits, and I have connections with millions of people all over the world when I’m wearing them, and I believe that they carry the energy and the spirit of all those fans.

Stern: They’re like a snapshot, aren’t they?

Gaga: Yes….

Stern: It’s like you look at those, and they bring back all your memories….

Gaga: Yes. And it’s not about how much they’re worth, you know,
moneywise, it’s like it could just be fishnets from the show, or the shoes, it
means so much to me, so….

Stern: Will you go look at that stuff wherever you store it, will you
say, those are the fishnets I wore on the tour?

Gaga: Yeah, and I’ll cry, I’ll cry and hold them, and think of the fans, and sing the songs and turn the music on, it’s like a totally religious
experience for us, the fans. And so with Michael …

Stern: But don’t you feel too weighted down by too much stuff?

Gaga: No. I mean, it’s all in my one building, it’s not…

Stern: Okay. So with Michael….

Gaga: With Michael, the fact that he’s not here and that his clothes were being sold, made me feel really uncomfortable, and it made me feel very upset, and I don’t know why. And I just called my dad, and I said, OK, I’m going to make a very big purchase, and I just hope that you please support me in this, and I’m just calling you because I respect you, and you take care of my money. And he said, what are you going to buy? And I said, “I’m going to buy Michael’s clothes, as many as I can get, and I told him the ones I liked. And he said he thought it was a beautiful idea. Cause now I take care of them, they’re in the right room temperature, they’ll be preserved, and then, you know, I’ll put together a museum or something for him, and I’ll put the money toward a foundation he cares about.

I didn’t want his clothes scattered to the winds. It made me uncomfortable.

Stern: I like that. But the interesting part of that story goes back to
my point I made at the beginning of the interview. The fact that you have to go
to your father… I get it. I know you trust him and everything….

Gaga: I’m Italian [laughs].

Stern: But that you have to go to your father and say, “Dad, I want to
buy…” You’ve earned the right to buy whatever the hell you want.

Gaga: Yes, but I also… you know, my father—they worked very hard, and
they paid for my piano lessons, and they paid for me to go to ballet class…

Stern: Okay. Because you’re their kid and they loved you.

Gaga: I know. He also carried my piano, my synth down the stairs, and
he helped me… I would have shows, and you know, I really respect my dad…
__________________________

I didn’t listen to the rest of the interview (it’s nearly 2 hours long), but I believe this is the end of Lady Gaga’s and Howard Stern’s
conversation on Michael.

So, it was actually DARREN HAYES, the Australian singer-songwriter (not
Lady Gaga) who said the following (on his blog post where he linked the above
interview):

Hayes:

“You know I’m a massive Michael Jackson fan. The
reasons go beyond his magical talent and abilities and I don’t need to
constantly explain it beyond saying his music and his imagination were a
saviour to me when I was hurting as a child. He was my first hero.
He reminded me constantly that you didn’t have to look a certain way or
act in a certain manner or fit in to be special. When I was being bullied
at school I’d go home and find so much inspiration from Michael’s extraordinary spirit. When I was 15 his posters were like a big brother, a father, best friend and hero all wrapped up in one. When he died, like many people, I was in shock and I broke down when I watched his funeral. I felt that the world had killed him. This interview with Lady Ga Ga is the first time
I’ve ever heard someone describe my hero in the way I felt about him and I
cried hearing her compassion about his legacy. You can hear these
excerpts at the 55.53 mark and again at 59.10 But what she did
to preserve his costumes and his legacy is wonderful.”