Lady Gaga calls out transphobic ‘hatred’ after International Women’s Day post with Dylan Mulvaney

‘Hatred is violence’ the singer wrote in an emotionally charged Instagram post

Lady Gaga has called out transphobic “hatred” after a picture of her with transgender TikToker and model Dylan Mulvaney received negative comments on International Women’s Day.

The post was shared by Mulvaney as part of IWD celebrations on Friday (8 March) but was taken on 29 February at a Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals event for its Photomedicine Foundation.

The image received hundreds of comments including some transphobic statements misgendering both Gaga and Mulvaney. The situation was initially reported in entertainment media as “backlash” to the photo being shared on International Women’s Day.

The “Born This Way” singer criticised media framing of the comments and reshared the image to her own Instagram page with a caption of her own. She called the comments “hatred”, adding that “hatred is violence”.

In the post shared on Monday (11 March), the actor and singer said: “It’s appalling to me that a post about National Women’s Day by Dylan Mulvaney and me would be met with such vitriol and hatred.”

She went on to criticise the use of the word “backlash”, adding: “When I see a newspaper reporting on hatred but calling it ‘backlash’ I feel it is important to clarify that hatred is hatred, and this kind of hatred is violence. ‘Backlash’ would imply that people who love or respect Dylan and me didn’t like something we did.

“This is not backlash. This is hatred.”

The post has since received over 1 million likes and over 24,000 comments.

Last July, the influencer, 26, shared a video to TikTok addressing months of “bullying and transphobia”, following her work with American beer brand Bud Light, which sparked right-wing backlash.

She criticised the company, saying that Bud Light did not “publicly stand by” her amid controversy in April surrounding the sponsorship deal between herself and the brand.

“For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse, in my opinion, than not hiring a trans person at all,” she said.

Mulvaney shot to fame after a sponsorship deal with Bud Light caused controversy among some (Dylan Mulvaney / Instagram)

Gaga said she felt “very protective” of Mulvaney as well as the trans community as a whole.

“I certainly do not speak for this community, but I have something to say. I hope all women will come together to honor us ALL for International Women’s Day, and may we do that always until THE DAY that all women are celebrated equally.

“Because people of all gender identities and races deserve peace and dignity.”

She reiterated: “I love people too much to allow hatred to be referred to as ‘backlash.’ People deserve better.”