Thanks, Lady Gaga!

I am not even sure how to tell you what a Lady Gaga is and when I heard that she wore a “meat dress” to the Video Music Awards, I have to admit, my first impression was “what a freak show”. The media, as you might imagine, was all over it with different interpretations and opinions of what she was trying to say or prove by this obvious publicity stunt. After watching several different news reports and doing a little bit of reading, I found out that PETA was mad at her which elevated her to a whole new level in my book. I still think she is a one-woman freak show but that did not stop her from posing in a meat bikini for the cover of Vogue or wearing a meat dress to the VMA awards. As they say, “pub is pub”. Sometimes an event can create publicity that was unintended but, one thing about it, it created some talk and she stood up on the world stage for her right to be weird. Now, I do not think she will be replacing Sam Elliot anytime soon as the spokesman for beef but, one thing is for sure, she raised the awareness of meat, however weird, because Monday morning, that was all the talk.

Things like that always remind me of weird happenings that create lots of spin and media buzz like when Lisa Marie Presley married Michael Jackson many years ago. People sure were talking about that and it is free. It did not cost anything but it got the tabloids churning. As I said earlier, no matter whether it is positive or negative, “pub is pub”. Is Lady Gaga a pop icon? That remains to be seen. Time will tell whether she is a “flash in the pan” or if she will having staying power of Cher. We will not know that for a while but for right now, she may be the hottest tabloid ticket in the country. For those of us in the meat business, good or bad, it put our product on the front page again. My guess is that she will make the talk show circuit and people like David Letterman and Jay Leno will ask the obvious question “what the heck were you thinking?” In fact, at the time I wrote this article, she had already been on Ellen, where Ellen DeGeneres asked her basically that same question. I could not tell what exact cut of meat she had on her head from the news reports and I know that if it was a steak, I would have liked it cut a little thicker. But again, as I said, the world is talking about meat. She stood up for her freedom in her goofy celebrity way and PETA got mad. Maybe it is the perfect storm. Maybe in the next several weeks, all the “cool kids” will be wearing meat suits. In fact, it would be great if somebody would design a meat prom dress. Might sure drive up the price of fat cattle.

I understand that some of Gaga’s other views are equally as weird like her support of the transgender population which would be way left of most of us, especially those of us in Southwest Oklahoma. But, none of the reporters will care much about what she thinks on those other subjects, because they are gonna be talking about meat. Even though it is in a weird setting, she and product that we work real hard to raise, are on the front page of almost everything. So thanks, Lady Gaga. Maybe you and Paris Hilton can get together and do a book of beef recipes for our next outdoor cookout. And maybe Angelina Jolie can bring the kids. And maybe Katy Perry can bring her girlfriend and they can all cook burgers or smoke a brisket. The paparazzi could have a field day with that one. Let me know and I will bring a pickup load of mesquite. Or, on second thought, maybe not. Maybe yall should just use charcoal. This is a crazy world but it is still a free country. Maybe when she gets married, her wedding dress could be made of pork, “the other white meat”, with some beef accessories. Be watching the Big Texan Steakhouse, that may be her next stop.

“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.” -Salman Rushdie