We may want to forget Lady Gaga as a celebrity spokeswoman for the HME industry
By Liz Beaulieu, Editor
Updated Fri July 15, 2011
Remember when I blogged a while back about Lady Gaga mentioning the Jazzy power wheelchair in a Saturday Night Live skit? Remember how impressed we were?
Well, during a recent concert in Sydney, Australia, the singer appeared on stage in a wheelchair. And people are none to happy about it.
Some attending the concert threw eggs at Lady Gaga. (Here's what I want to know: Do people in Australia always bring eggs to concerts, just in case?). Also, Jesse Billauer, the founder of a quadriplegic advocacy group called Life Rolls On, told an online news outlet: "I invite [Gaga] to learn more about the 5.6 million Americans who live with paralysis. They, like me, unfortunately, don't use a wheelchair for shock value."
I guess Lady Gaga was in a wheelchair because, as part of her new mermaid alter ego Yuyi, her legs were bound in her costume. (Here's what I want to know: In the movie Splash, when Daryl Hannah wasn't in water, weren't her legs free? She didn't have to use a wheelchair because her legs were bound.)
At the very least, it's got to be bad karma to use a wheelchair when you don't need one, especially, as Billauer points out, just for entertainment value, and I'd think Lady Gaga is the kind of person who takes her karma pretty seriously.
Liz Beaulieu
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