Stephanie Mills has some words for Lady Gaga, whom The Wiz star called a “culture vulture” while recalling a disappointing encounter on The Jason Lee Show recently.
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During the interview posted Wednesday (Oct. 14), Mills shared a story that she said took place “years ago,” describing how she was asked by Mother Monster’s team to perform “Home” — her signature track from the 1975 Wizard of Oz Broadway adaptation — for Gaga at a photo shoot in New York. “‘Home’ is Lady Gaga’s favorite song,'” Mills recalled the request saying. “Would you come surprise her and sing ‘Home’? At first, I said, ‘No, why would I do that? No.’ And I was talked into it.”
“She had her little black dog there and all the other people,” the R&B singer continued. “I sang for her — she didn’t smile, she didn’t do anything. She looked at me like I had two heads. I finished singing ‘Home,’ and we took pictures. Before we left, they said, ‘Listen, you’ve gotta delete all those pictures.’ They did not let us leave until they saw every picture being deleted. Very disrespectful.”
When host Jason Lee pointed out that Gaga has watched his show before, Mills delivered a message directly to the 16-time Grammy winner: “I hope you watch and I hope you remember what you did. And I feel like you owe me an apology.”
The Broadway icon also elaborated on her “culture vulture” assessment of Gaga. “That’s why I say she’s a culture vulture. She was managed by Black men. She did a song with R. Kelly,” Mills said, at which point Lee jumped in with, “Then she went over there with Tony Bennett and forgot all the Black people.”
“I had admiration for her,” Mills added. “I don’t any longer, but I give everybody respect.”
Billboard has reached out to Gaga’s reps for comment.
The subject of the A Star Is Born performer first came up as Mills was discussing the way Black women have historically been pitted against each other. In her case, people often tried to stir up conflict between her and Diana Ross, who played Dorothy Gale — whom Mills portrayed in the original Broadway cast — in the movie adaptation of The Wiz.
“To this very day, I love the ground Ms. Ross walks on,” Mills said, dispelling any notion that there was real-life beef between herself and Ross. “I think she’s the epitome of glamour. I never felt ill towards her when they did The Wiz movie. You’ve never heard her say a bad thing about me. You’ve never heard me say a bad word about her.”
“[Michael Jackson] loved both of us,” she added. “He really did. They like to pit Black people against each other. They don’t pit Lady Gaga against Barbra Streisand.”
Watch the full new episode of The Jason Lee Show below.