Our long national nightmare is over: Weird Al's Gaga saga has come to an end. And a happy one, at that.
Anyone who's been following the parody artist's blog this past week (there's got to be at least one of you, right?) knows that there's been some drama brewing between Weird Al Yankovic and Lady Gaga after she refused to grant permission for the release of his "Born This Way" homage, "Perform This Way."
Petty, right? Shows a real lack of humor, right? Well, wrong, seeing as how that's not actually what happened. Here's what did…
A few weeks ago, the Weird One decided, much to the Internet's delight, to make Gaga his next parody subject. So he wrote up some lyrics, sent over a pitch and waited. And waited.
Incidentally, while Yankovic's parodies are all protected under fair-use and no approval from the artists is necessary, he has always sought a blessing from the singers he spoofs.
He finally heard back from Team Gaga, informing him that the superstar would need to hear the tune before signing off. So he sent over the lyrics. And was informed that she would actually need to hear the finished product before offering her magnanimous blessing.
So he did. And sent it over. And was rejected.
Down but not out, Al decided to respect Gaga's rejection, telling fans "nobody is more disappointed than I am"—and instead of including it on his album as his lead single, as he was hoping to do, he instead leaked it online and made it available for free download.
It was an immediate sensation and, as one might've been able to predict, eventually found its way to Lady Gaga's ears.
For the first time.
Turns out, it was her manager who had been making the crazy demands under the guise of doing so on Gaga's behalf, who, as it turns out, knew absolutely nothing of Weird Al's requests.
"Apparently the fact that she didn't approve it was news to Lady Gaga herself!" he blogged. "Gaga's manager has now admitted that he never forwarded my parody to Gaga—she had no idea at all. Even though we assumed that Gaga herself was the one making the decision (because, well, that's what we were TOLD), he apparently made the decision completely on his own.
"He's sorry. And Gaga loves the song."
As a result, the song will indeed be released as Yankovic's first single and, more excitingly, will soon be filmed as his album's debut music video. All proceeds from both will go to the Human Rights Campaign.
"I truly respect and admire Gaga as an artist and it pained me to think of her as having less than a great sense of humor," he wrote. "Thank you, Gaga. And thanks to everybody who had my back."