For a week building up to the Super Bowl, the biggest news story was not if the Patriots would achieve a record-breaking 5th win, but on the politics behind the half-time performance by Lady GaGa.
Boosted in no small part by her own cryptic statements on the subject, speculation was rampit that GaGa would make her performance a giant FU to the Trump administration and current policy.
Cheers and begging came from the left as Huffington Post released article after article with such titles as: “Lady Gaga, We’re Begging You To Make Your Super Bowl Show A Huge Protest” and “Lady Gaga Is An Unapologetic Activist”.
On the right, the sneers and hate were just as loud. Right leaning websites like Gatway Pundit warned that GaGa will ‘get preachy’ and demanded a boycott. Forums like FreeRepublic attempted to start a movement where people turned off their televisions and ‘prayed for Trump’ instead of watching. Even more mainstream journalists like Megyn Kelly fell for fake leaks the day of the Super Bowl claiming GaGa was going to ‘hound’ President Trump.
The hatred was fueled and on fire. Demands for activism, call for boycotts, it seemed among the politically engaged class, neutrality was absent.
Then GaGa performed and boy did she perform. Her performance started right off the bat with renditions of “This Land is Your Land” and “God Bless America”, both absolutely respectfully done with no manipulations of the songs to the right or the left. In an amazing feat of technical choreography, hundreds of illuminated drones created an amazing display of the American flag.
As the world watched on pins and needles for GaGa’s big statement, nothing happened. She went on to perform several of her most popular songs with no statement whatsoever about the current administration or policy.
After the performance, even the most politically cynical had to admit, the performance was great and GaGa played it safe not even making a dog whistle to the left or the right.
And maybe, that was the biggest political statement of them all. As everyone was at each other’s throats, ready for a fight based on a hoped for, or dreaded statement, GaGa instead, simply chose to perform for everyone, not fueling the hate or anger.
Maybe there is a political lesson in this after all.
