Did Lady Gaga Have Any Impact On 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Vote?

In spite of DADT vote stalling in Senate, supporters of repeal say Gaga's tireless advocacy has garnered issue global recognition.
By Gil Kaufman


Lady Gaga speaks in in Portland, Maine on Monday
Photo: Cliff Kucine/ Getty Images

There are many different ways for celebrities to leverage their notoriety to help a cause. They can play a concert, write a check, make a PSA or, as in the case of actor Sean Penn, live in a meager tent in an earthquake-ravaged country for six months and run their own relief organization. But few stars have given as much in as short a time as Lady Gaga has to the cause of repealing the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

"The reality is that on Saturday night we were looking at what we could do on Monday, knowing that even if we sent out an alert to our base of 80,000 supporters, we'd be talking to the same people," said Trevor Thomas, spokesperson for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a national organization dedicated to ending DADT. "We wanted to expand our reach and reach more people nationally and, more than anything, the two swing senators [in Maine] who could give us a chance."

The SLDN quickly hatched a plan to organize a rally in Maine on Monday in an attempt to get swing-vote Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to possibly change their votes on the repeal. That's where Lady Gaga came in. The pop icon had walked the white carpet at the VMAs with four SLDN members, shouted them out from the stage, turned her website over to the issue and posted public video pleas about the issue. When word came of this last-minute appeal, once again, she stepped up.

According to Thomas, the singer finished a show in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Sunday night, hopped on a bus and took a 15-hour ride to Maine, personally writing her address on the way.

"The dedication from her was amazing," he said. "She wrote the speech, did the research and talked to people, and it did exactly what we need to do — highlight the issue to young people and others who might not have heard about this cause. But most importantly, we did it in this key area we needed it in."

The Gaga speech garnered massive local and national coverage for the issue, with stories in the Denver Post, USA Today and The New York Times, among others. "You can work for months to place one story in the Times' print section, and even if politics prevail and we lose the vote, more people know about the DADT repeal than did yesterday," Thomas said.

And while Gaga's mighty push to lock in the necessary votes didn't save the day when the crucial Senate vote took place on Tuesday (September 21), Thomas said her help undoubtedly had a huge impact and put a global spotlight on the policy.

From the night Gaga first spoke out on the repeal at the 2010 VMAs and redirected traffic from her official website to the SLDN site until 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Thomas said, 314,446 people clicked to the "take action" tab, which sent them to a site listing the phone numbers where U.S. senators could be reached about the vote. While it's unknown how many of those clicks turned into actual phone calls, Thomas said he was "100 percent sure" that the site would not have gotten nearly that many visits without Gaga's efforts.

The total number of visitors was nearly four times the amount of supporters SLDN had gathered pre-Gaga, but Thomas pointed out an even more impressive number. During that same two-week period, the pages on the SLDN website with background information on DADT got 520,298 page views. In contrast, during the first two weeks of the month, the site had 13,000 visitors and 30,000 page views.

"There are many people who are high-profile who speak out in a positive manner on LGBT issues," Thomas said. "But the difference here is she asked, 'What can I do?' at a time when it was critically important for the passage of our bill. Not only did she say that, but she asked how and when to do it. When you look at the past couple of weeks, you see not just strategic tweets but the video address that hit days before the critical vote and which was driving many calls to the Senate switchboard. I don't know of many entertainers who at the critical moment for a bill would stop their website and direct it to a 'take action' page for a relatively small group trying to push an issue crucially important to servicemembers and those who support them."

Before Tuesday's vote, Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — the Nevada senator exchanged DADT-related tweets last week with Gaga — said the Democratic boss welcomed Mother Monster's advocacy. "We appreciate the support of Lady Gaga and her supporters," Manley said. "Sometimes that can have an impact, especially when you are as apparently committed as she is to the cause."

Even with all of Gaga's work, CNN reported that both Collins and Snowe said Gaga's appearance at Monday's rally in Maine had no effect on their crucial votes; the final 56-43 tally helped ensure that the Senate would not open a DADT repeal discussion during its current session. Collins, in fact, supported the repeal, but told the network she felt she had to stay in line with her colleagues and vote against debate for procedural reasons.

What do you think about Gaga's efforts in the fight to repeal "don't ask, don't tell"? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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Justin Bieber's 'U Smile' Video Premieres

Bieber mans the piano and chills with a lady friend in new clip.
By Mawuse Ziegbe


Justin Bieber
Photo: Larry Busacca/ Getty Images

Justin Bieber fans have plenty to grin about now that the teen superstar's latest video is here. Bieber's "U Smile" clip premiered on Thursday (September 30) and features the Canadian sensation indulging in something he probably doesn't get a lot of these days: privacy.

The clip begins in black-and-white (and later incorporates scenes of color) as the "Somebody to Love" singer is approached by a crew of cheery tween fans who ask to snap a pic with the Biebs. The singer, of course, obliges and invites one of the lucky ladies out for a rendezvous later that evening. The two sneak into an empty theater and have lots of moments of PG intimacy, holding hands, horsing around on the theater's seats, sliding down banisters and making each other giggle. They wrap up the date with a playful back-alley water fight and collapse into each other's arms.

Bieber has said the video is about letting fans experience the ultimate fantasy for any hard-core Belieber: being Justin's girlfriend.

"I took the opportunity 2 make a video 4 the fans, about a fan, and how we could fall IN LOVE," he tweeted about the clip. "Love Grows. #LoveGrows."

Hit visuals like "Baby" and "One Time" show off the teen idol's footwork and peppy teenage swagger, but "U Smile" suggests a more mature Bieber, who appears to relish the quiet moments with his gal pal away from the nonstop fan hysteria. The clip also displays his skills as an instrumentalist, as he belts out the lyrics from behind a grand piano throughout much of the vid.

"It really is a throwback to the great records I listened to growing up," Bieber tweeted about the track earlier this year. "I wrote it for all my fans who got me here."

What do you think of Justin Bieber's "U Smile" video? Sound off in the comments!

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Lady Gaga Adds Monster Ball Tour Dates

Additional dates extend Gaga's tour through April 2011.
By Gil Kaufman


Lady Gaga
Photo: Derek Storm/ Splash News

Lady Gaga just won't stop. The singer, in the midst of her already massive Monster Ball Tour, has added another dozen dates to the outing, which will now keep her on the road in North America through late April 2011.

The new shows begin with a March 1 date in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and include stops in Omaha (March 17), San Diego (March 29), Orlando (April 15), Tampa (April 16) and Cleveland (April 27).

Perhaps staying on the road will help the VMA-winning singer deal with the death of her beloved grandfather, Joseph Germanotta, who died on Friday at age 88. Gaga remembered him in writing on Sunday, tweeting, "Having a Perfect Manhattan, for my perfect guy. Love you Giuseppe."

In May, Lady Gaga opened up to fans about her then-sick grandfather during her Monster Ball Tour show in Nottingham, England. "I don't always talk about my personal life but my grandpa's sick," she revealed. "And I'm really close with my grandpa and he's really sick and he's in the States and my dad's with him. So I was, like, crying all day, really sad. So I thought I might just be honest and tell you that's what's going on."

But in true Gaga fashion, the singer put her emotions into her music by dedicating her ballad "Speechless" to the elder Germanotta. "So it's been one of those tough things that my grandpa's too old to come to my show, but I suppose if we sing loud enough, he'll be able to hear us. So this one's for you Grandpa," she said after breaking down in tears.

Though a release date has not yet been announced, it's possible that Gaga's second full-length studio album, Born This Way, could be released while she's still on the road. Producer RedOne, a frequent collaborator of Gaga's, told MTV News that the upcoming disc is Gaga's "freedom album," though he declined to say much more as the project is too "precious" for him to spill the beans on.

New Lady Gaga tour dates:

» March 1 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena
» March 4 - Buffalo, NY @ HSBC Arena
» March 6 - Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Center
» March 12 - Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
» March 17 - Omaha, NE @ Qwest Center
» March 29 - San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena
» April 15 - Orlando, FL @ Amway Center
» April 16 - Tampa, FL @ St. Pete Times Forum
» April 22 - Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
» April 23 - Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Coliseum
» April 25 - Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
» April 27 - Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena

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Justin Bieber Sings For Fans At Hooters In Canada

Singer makes a surprise appearance at a mall in Edmonton.
By Jocelyn Vena


Justin Bieber (file)
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

Justin Bieber is living the life. The 16-year-old superstar was spotted and photographed with a bevy of Hooters waitresses after he stopped by the restaurant's local outpost at the West Edmonton Mall in Canada on Saturday, the Edmonton Sun reports. He was in town for a stop on his My World tour.

Not only did Bieber and his entourage, including four of his backup dancers, stop by for a quick visit, he also serenaded everyone at the restaurant. One of the servers at the restaurant, Tania Biggar, explained, "We were talking about deep-fried pickles. Then they said they would sing to me for free deep-fried pickles. The manager said if they sang for the whole restaurant, he'd pay for their entire meal. They serenaded the girls. They were actually super-polite. They were just awesome people to serve. They weren't demanding or anything like that."

The impromptu performance had fans in a frenzy. "Everybody that was sitting around them went over to talk to them. They told them they did an awesome job of singing," she said.

Biggar further explained that while the Hooters girls did get a photo with Bieber, they didn't get much one-on-one time with him. "None of the [servers] really got to talk to him. He was surrounded by his fans," she said. "That's how we knew he was coming in — it was all 14-year-old girls. And they all kind of move as one."

YouTube footage of the Hooters visit shows Bieber, dressed in a black jacket and black hat, walking through crowds of people. Despite all the fans trying to catch a glimpse of the star, it seems things remained relatively more low-key than past Bieber mall appearances.

The restaurant's manager, Sonny Verma, confirmed the blink-and-you'll-miss-him appearance of the "U Smile" singer to the Edmonton Journal. "We probably had a row six people deep and 10 people long at the window. It was pretty cool," he said. "I was told about 10, 15 minutes he came in here. It was really quick. He came in, took a quick picture and took off."

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