Lady Gaga was joined at the Oscars by survivors of sexual assault as she performed her Oscar-nominated ballad Til It Happens to You.
Dozens of men and women, with ‘survivor’, ‘not your fault’ and ‘it happened to me’ written on their forearms, came onstage to join the singer. Gaga had previously revealed in December 2014 that she herself was abused by a music industry colleague, when she was 19. “You tell me it gets better, in time,” she sang. “Till it happens to you, you won't know how I feel.”
Watch Lady Gaga perform Til It Happens to you at the #Oscars here https://t.co/ptBYEAIKqq
— Lady Gaga Facts (@LGMonsterFacts) February 29, 2016
Gaga’s performance was introduced by US Vice President Joe Biden, a life-long campaigner against sexual assault, who wrote the Violence Against Women Act in 1990, and eventually pushed it through Congress in 1994. “Too many women and men, on and off college campuses, are still victims of sexual abuse,” he said.
Biden, 73, asked the audience to take a pledge, and say, “I will interevene in situations where consent has not or cannot be given.”
Joe Biden introduces Lady Gaga at the #Oscars. https://t.co/aRmjqBSbjg
— MTV News (@MTVNews) February 29, 2016
“Let’s change the culture,” he continued. “We must and we can change the culture, so that no abused woman or man, like the survivors you will see tonight, ever feel they have to ask themselves ‘What did I do?’ They did nothing wrong.” He described Gaga as a "good friend" of his and a "courageous survivor".
The song was written for American fillmmaker Kirby Dick’s documentary, The Hunting Ground, which tackles sexual assault on US college campuses. The Hunting Ground was one of fifteen shortlisted films for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, but failed to make the final list of five nominees.
Pop singer Kesha also tweeted to thank Gaga for the performance:
thank u @ladygaga and VP @JoeBiden for bringing attention to sexual assault at the oscars. it hit very close to my heart for obvious reasons
— kesha (@KeshaRose) February 29, 2016
Kesha has been fighting to be released from her recording contract with Sony Music since 2014, when she filed a sexual assault lawsuit against her former mentor, Sony record producer Lukasz Gottwald (better known as ‘Dr Luke’). Earlier in the evening, Gaga had tweeted Kesha to show her support:
.@kesharose I'll be thinking of u 2nite. This is not over we'll stand by u until you are free to live a HAPPY life. Everyone deserves that.
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) February 28, 2016
Gaga also wrote a message of gratitude to her fiancé Taylor Kinney on Instagram:
Til It Happens to You was nominated for Best Original Song, but the award went to Sam Smith and James Nape for their Writing’s On the Wall, from the latest James Bond film, Spectre. "I want to dedicate this to the LGBT community all around the world,” said Smith. “I stand here as a proud gay man, and hope we can all stand here as equals one day."
On social media, many have been complaining that Gaga deserved to win.
honestly anybody who considers themselves a "proud gay man" would give their oscar to lady gaga
— Matt Bellassai (@MattBellassai) February 29, 2016
While I really like the instrumentals (not the actual song) for Writings On The Wall, Lady Gaga was the clear winner. #Snubbed
— Josh Bone (@ThatFilmFreak21) February 29, 2016
Every Bond song doesn't have to win, @ladygaga was robbed. Hers was meaningful and she won whether she takes home the award or not! #Oscars
— nascar48tvlgirl (@nascar48tvlgirl) February 29, 2016