Lady Gaga blasted Vice President Mike Pence for thinking "it's acceptable that his wife works at a school that bans LGBTQ" people and branded him as the "worst representation" of Christianity during a performance at Park MGM in Las Vegas on Saturday.
“To Mike Pence who thinks it's acceptable that his wife works at a school that bans LGBTQ. You are wrong," Gaga said. "You said you should not discriminate against Christianity. You are the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian."
"I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice and everybody is welcome," she continued. "So you can take all that disgrace, Mr. Pence, and look yourself in the mirror and you’ll find it right there.”
Gaga's comments came just days after the announcement that Second Lady Karen Pence would begin teaching art at Immanuel Christian School, which requires employees to pledge that they believe marriage is between a man and a woman and that they do not engage in "homosexual or lesbian sexual activity" or "transgender identity.
Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, made the comments during a performance of her song "Million Reasons." She also sang a soulful rendition of "Born This Way," which since its release has become an anthem of sorts for the LGBT community.
Many concurred with her statements.
Although Pence has not responded to Gaga's comments directly, he did recently defend his wife's new job, characterizing it as an attack on Christian education.
He also, during an appearance on "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins," said that to criticize his wife amounted to an attack on First Amendment rights. (Perkins is the head of the socially conservative Family Research Council who in 2016 proposed an amendment supporting “conversion therapy” for children who identify as LGBT as part of the GOP platform.)
"If we cherish the freedom of religion in this country, this administration stands foursquare for the freedom of religion for people of all faiths, and to see the mainstream media criticize my wife cause she's choosing to return to the classroom of an elementary Christian school is wrong," Pence said. "Again, the attacks on Christian education must end."
In addition to her comments about Pence, Gaga took aim at President Donald Trump and demanded he re-open the federal government.
“If the f---ing president of the United States could please put our government back in business,” she said to cheers from the audience. “There are people that live paycheck to paycheck that need their money."
The federal government has been shut down for over a month, the longest shutdown in American government. It was spurred on after the president refused to sign a stopgap funding bill because he disagreed with Congress’s decision not to provide his requested funding for his proposed border wall.
As the shutdown continues to upend Washington and the nation at large, the standoff between President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has intensified.
The president on Saturday presented lawmakers with a plan giving about 1 million immigrants three years of protection from deportation in exchange for $5.7 billion in funding for his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which prompted many on the right to complain that this plan amounted to amnesty for people who are in the United States without documentation. But Democrats have refused the offer, a move which prompted the president to assail Democrats in several tweets, including the following, in which he names Pelosi in particular.
Brad Parscale, the president's 2020 campaign manager, was criticized last week after he urged supporters to send actual bricks to Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
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