NRA urges Lady Gaga to avoid anti-Trump tirade in Super Bowl halftime show

Lady Gaga has already made history with her Super Bowl halftime performance, even though it won’t happen until early Sunday evening at the midway point between the Atlanta Falcons/New England Patriots’ NFL championship game in Houston.

She is the first halftime show performer to receive an admonition from the National Rifle Association about what she should — or, rather, should not — do during her Super Bowl performance.

Speaking on NRA TV, conservative political commentator Bill Whittle strongly implored Gaga to leave any political statements out of her 13-minute Sunday performance at Houston’s NRG Stadium.

Whittle began by taking a shot at the NFL for picking Gaga just a year after Beyoncé fueled criticism from conservative corners for her 2016 Super Bowl halftime show performance. It featured the live debut of her overtly political song “Formation,” which found her and her dancers wearing quasi-military outfits inspired by the Black Panthers.

“Once again they’ve chosen a gigantic progressive mouthpiece for their Super Bowl halftime,” Whittle charged.

“I can remember days when Michael Jackson or somebody would do the Super Bowl and politics didn’t enter into it because they understood that they’re performing for the entire nation and not for the staff at MSNBC.”

(For the record, Jackson’s 1993 Super Bowl performance had a clear political and social bent, thanks to his inclusion of the songs “Black or White,” “Heal the World,” “Why You Wanna Trip On Me” and “We Are the World.”)

“I think if Lady Gaga comes out there and makes this an anti-Trump tirade, I think that’s really the final step of the declaration of war between our pop culture people and the actual citizens,” Whittle continued.

“This is not the Kennedy Awards. This isn’t the Oscars. This is the Super Bowl where real Americans get together and have a real fun day and the last thing they want to hear is how stupid and racist they are.”

How political or apolitical will Gaga’s performance be?

That remains to be seen.

But in a Thursday press conference in Houston, Gaga, 30, said: “The only statement(s) that I’ll be making during the halftime show are the ones that I’ve been consistently making throughout my career.

“I believe in a passion for inclusion. I believe in the spirit of equality, and that the spirit of this country is one of love and kindness. My performance will uphold those philosophies.”

Gaga, who supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, also vowed that she will sing out at the Super Bowl to the marginalized and disenfranchised.

“That kid that couldn’t get a seat at the cool kids’ table, and that kid that was kicked out of the house because his mom and dad didn’t accept him for who he was? That kid is going to have the stage for 13 minutes,’’ she said. “And I’m excited to give that to them.’’

The only thing Gaga promised to leave out of her Sunday halftime show performance is the infamous “meat dress” she unveiled at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.

“There will be no meat dress, so don’t wait for that,” she told reporters Thursday in Houston. “Get excited to see something that you haven’t seen before.”

Asked if her performance will unify this intensely polarized nation, Gaga replied: “I don’t know if it will succeed in unifying America. You’ll have to ask America when it’s over.”

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george.varga@sduniontribune.com