Did Lady Gaga Glorify Eating Disorders?

Remember how Demi Lovato slammed Lady Gaga's SXSW set (the one which included vomit painter Millie Brown spewing vomit on the ARTPOP singer, in case you forgot), saying that it "glorified eating disorders?" Well, Lady Gaga has finally responded to Demi Lovato's claim, saying that in no freakin' way did the act promote bulimia. Gaga insisted that it was just art.

Millie Brown had already responded to Lovato's statement, saying that her vomit art was simply a form of expressing herself. (Y'know, art and stuff.) Lovato, who always tries to connect with her fans, was concerned that her super-young fan base would be influenced by the inclusion of vomit painting in Gaga's SXSW performance. While she made a valid point in that — yes, much of her fan base is quite young and are particularly malleable (ah, tweenhood), it's unlikely that a tween would see vomit and think "cool!" A tween would more likely think "gross!" Moreover, the performance didn't include any connotation of the idea that vomiting makes you thin; it was simply look what vomit can do! (Paint, apparently.)

Not to mention, Gaga loves her fans and would never want them to even consider going down such a debilitating path. She's been public with her body positivity movement, with her Body Revolution campaign. She, too, has struggled with an eating disorder, so why would she want to endorse such a thing?

She spoke to E! News regarding this controversy. Here's what she had to say:

I have struggled with an eating disorder for over 10 years and I take that very seriously, I take the struggle of others very seriously [....] I am very supportive of Demi's struggle and her recovery as well as the recovery of anyone who is suffering from that, but this performance had absolutely nothing to do with any eating disorder, and we never intended for it to be taken that way [...] I'm really proud of the performance and really stand by the message of rage and pain that we were trying to express in that moment.

While the majority of us are unlikely to call up a vomit painter to entertain at our next big party, it's not difficult to see Gaga's side of this controversy. It also shouldn't have been too surprising — to anyone — that a singer famous for such obscure choices (meat dress, anyone? Ring a bell?) would bring vomit to the stage in the name of art.