THE National Football League (NFL) has denied that it asked Lady Gaga to avoid talking politics as part of her Super Bowl halftime show appearance in February.
“Lady Gaga was told by the NFL that she cannot say anything or bring anything up about the election, or mention Donald Trump,” an anonymous source told Entertainment Tonight in an article published on Tuesday. The news story swiftly gained traction on the Internet.
But the football league flatly denied the report later that day. “This is unsourced nonsense from people trying to stir up controversy where there is none,” Natalie Ravitz, a spokesman for the NFL, said in a statement.
The statement continued, “Lady Gaga is focused on putting together an amazing show for fans and we love working with her on it; we aren’t going to be distracted by this.”
Lady Gaga was a vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton during and after the campaign, performing at rallies for the candidate and, memorably, in the wake of the election, standing on a giant sanitation truck outside of Trump Tower in Manhattan, holding aloft a “Love Trumps Hate” sign. (The image of the distraught singer was widely circulated online, including by far-right media outlets like the Breitbart News Network).
The singer had not posted about the reports to her social-media accounts as of Wednesday morning. Her representatives had no comment beyond the NFL’s statement.