Demi Lovato: Lady Gaga's SXSW Performance is 'Glamorizing' Eating Disorders

Lady Gaga's South By Southwest show earlier this week, during which she was vomited on during a performance of "Swine," has found a high profile critic in the form of a fellow pop artist: Demi Lovato.

After Gaga's performance Thursday night (March 13) at SXSW, Lovato posted a series of tweets to her Twitter account Friday evening criticizing the performance of the "ARTPOP" cut. calling into question Gaga's decision to include the vomiting bit with British performing artist Millie Brown.

"As if we didn't have enough people glamorizing eat disorders already," Lovato, who has struggled with eating disorders and addiction in the past, tweeted. "Bottom line, it's not "cool" or "artsy" at all."

 

Sad... As if we didn't have enough people glamorizing eat disorders already. Bottom line, it's not "cool" or "artsy" at all.

— demetria lovato (@ddlovato) March 14, 2014

 

"Would you let someone bring a needle and shoot up on you? Addiction is addiction," she continued a few minutes later.

Would you let someone bring a needle and shoot up on you? Addiction is addiction.

— demetria lovato (@ddlovato) March 14, 2014

Discussion based on her initial tweets soon followed, with some questioning whether or not it the act was OK because it was framed as performance art.

"So it's cool if I do a speech about self-harm and then proceed to watch someone cut themselves on my stage?" she responded in a lengthy tweet, following with, "Putting the word ART in it isn't a free card to do whatever you want without consequences."

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In a longer post, she later noted that "artists in pop culture have influence on people," and that "people emulate what they see celebrities do or let happen. And that's why I had to say something.. to let the people who don't understand the art in it, that bulimia isn't cool, and it won't get you on stage with your favorite artist."

But her critique of the singer's performance doesn't give Lady Gaga one less fan in Lovato.

 

Ps. I'm still a little monster myself. ???

— demetria lovato (@ddlovato) March 15, 2014

 

Gaga gave the keynote address at SXSW yesterday, talking sponsorships and "freeing yourself from the expectations of the music industry and the expectations of the status quo," calling for power to be put back "in the hands of the artists." Meanwhile, Lovato's version of "Let It Go" from Disney's "Frozen" just hit 100 million views on YouTube.