Lady Gaga Gay Blackface Slave Photos Appear Just As Singer Is About To Be Honored by 'Billboard'

Nobody can certainly say Lady Gaga has an easy ride in the entertainment industry. No matter how much she achieves (and she has achieved a lot), there are always those just waiting at the corner to strike her down. This time, however, it could be rather serious as photos that show Lady Gaga at a party, where she is holding two gay men dressed in blackface in chains, have started to go viral.

It started with a petition on Change.org, which has the offending picture with a petition containing a harsh statement.

"In 2011, Lady Gaga held a completely tasteless gay slave auction in Berlin...She took pictures with the 'slaves' and talked in a Southern accent the whole night. She had the photographer of the event fired."

Although the context of her appearance hasn't been proven, the people signing the petition are pretty angry.

"This woman is a sick human but she is brainwashing her fans to be racist," claims Arial DeJezus of Lansing, MI.

"This type of behavior should not be rewarded. it's racist, sexist, and doesn't belong on American television," says Jack Lopez of Spencer, WI.

The petition aims to get people to not only boycott American Horror Story (where Gaga will appear), but also to boycott its advertisers, although none are named.

The pictures have been pretty much scandal-free until this weekend, when the conservative site American Thinker picked up on the story, which has been discussed on several conservative blogs. The anger stems from the fact that conservatives believe that the lack of uproar over the photos shows a double standard; if it had been a conservative pop star or entertainer, there would be a huge uproar and their careers would be ruined. Still, there has been an uproar on Twitter over the photos.

Once again, there has been no proof of the context of the photos and many Lady Gaga fans believe that we should at least allow Mother Monster to speak about the photos and their context before the lynch mob mentality packs in.

Lady Gaga performed with Tony Bennett this year. [Photo by Kevin Mazur / Getty Images]In better news for Lady Gaga, Billboard has decided to award her as the Woman of the Year, an honor recently given to Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and even P!nk.

"'Billboard's Woman of the Year has always represented the finest in music, and the anointing of a key influential figure who drove the conversation for that year. No one embodies that more than Lady Gaga in 2015,' says Janice Min, co-president and chief creative officer of Guggenheim Media's entertainment group, which consists of Billboard and THR."

As usual, Lady Gaga's haters have gone in for the kill and have filled up Billboard's page under the article with nasty comments.

"It's obvious why she deserves this made up award...she wrote the biggest check. Congrads [sic] on buying your honors Flopga!" wrote commenter David.

"Such a laughable, arbitrary, and undeserved 'honor.' What has she done this year that has been noteworthy or worthy of critical appreciation? Not having a career? Corporate shills," said Cyka.

Lady Gaga did have a jazz album called Cheek To Cheek with Tony Bennett and also toured in support of the album. She just released a single about college rape culture called "Till It Happens To You," though her haters are happily declaring the song a flop since it didn't make Billboard's Hot 100 singles the week after its release. Do you think Lady Gaga's haters are going too far or are they correct to challenge her every move? Let us know in the comments section.

[Feature Photo by John Shearer (WireImage) for Getty Images]