INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Lady Gaga Nominated For An Oscar For Her Rape Culture Anthem Song

By Niki Cruz
Published on: 10:23 PST, Jan 14, 2016

There were many surprises that came from the Oscar nominations, and one of them was Lady Gaga’s nomination. The artist, who’s just coming off of her Golden Globe win for American Horror Story, was nominated with songwriter Diane Warren for co-writing the survivor anthem “Till It Happens To You.”

The track was nominated for Best Original Song, which Gaga co-wrote with Warren for the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground. The Hunting Ground focuses on rape on college campuses.

In a statement, Gaga thanked the Academy, but more importantly acknowledged how this track has lent a voice for the victims of rape and other forms of sexual abuse.

“This nomination lends a voice to victims and survivors all over the world. Thank you to THE ACADEMY for recognizing the movement of people who have come together for this film & song in the name of sexual assault.”

The song first got attention when the video was released online. Lady Gaga is not featured in the video, which tells the story of several different rapes that happen. Shot in black and white, many of the images in the video are disturbing and might trigger victims of abuse, but more importantly, the track itself has acted as a voice of empowerment for those who couldn’t tell their stories.

Although Lady Gaga wasn’t featured in the video, she sings the raw tune wonderfully. The song helped her to come out with her own story of sexual abuse, which she went through in her teens. As the Inquisitr reported, the “Born This Way” singer shared her own story in graphic detail.

The singer opened up during a TimesTalk panel in New York, where she revealed she hadn’t said anything about the attack until then.

“I think it was important to everyone that the person singing this song had been abused, or experienced something like that so it was authentic. I didn’t tell anyone for I think seven years [about the rape]. I didn’t know how to think about it.

“I didn’t know how to accept it. I didn’t know how to not blame myself or think it was my fault. It’s something that really changed my life. It changed who I was, completely. It changed my body, it changed my thoughts.”

The singer continued, “For many people, it has almost like trauma, where you re-experience it through the years after it. It can trigger patterns in your body of physical distress. So a lot of people suffer not just emotional and mental pain, but physical pain as a result of being abused, raped or traumatized in some way.”

Although it was the first time she had spoken in depth about the rape, Lady Gaga mentioned the year before that she was a victim of rape when she went to speak on The Howard Stern Show.

If Lady Gaga wins the award for Best Original Song, she will join a short list of artists that have won both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.

Lady Gaga’s big moment winning her Golden Globe was overshadowed by the look Leonardo DiCaprio gave her as she passed him on her way to the stage. The singer knocked DiCaprio’s elbow off his chair as he was hysterically laughing, about what we don’t know, but when that happened, the actor, who also won an award that night, gave her a pretty dismayed look.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

Share this article: Lady Gaga Nominated For An Oscar For Her Rape Culture Anthem Song
lady gaga
More from Inquisitr