Lady Gaga says her and Bradley Cooper were 'acting' while performing at the Oscars

'People saw love, and guess what, that’s what we wanted you to see'

Following their steamy duet at the Oscars, Lady Gaga has dismissed rumours of a romance between her and Bradley Cooper.

The A Star is Born co-stars sang the film’s track “A Star is Born” at the 91st Academy Awards, making for one of the night’s more memorable moments.

Gaga – who won Best Original Song – was seated at a piano, while Cooper sat opposite her. Soon enough, Cooper moved to sit next to the pop star, with the pair staring intensely into each other’s eyes as the track came to a close.

Speculators began wondering whether anything off-screen had happened between the pair, with Gaga denying anything but a professional relationship between the pair.

“First of all, social media quite frankly is the toilet of the Internet and what it has done to pop culture is abysmal,” Gaga said when questioned about the performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“And people saw love, and guess what, that’s what we wanted you to see. This is a love song, the movie is a love story.”

Gaga added that Cooper had directed the performance. “From a performance perspective it was so important to both of us that we were connected the entire time,” she added. “I mean, look, I’ve had my arm around Tony Bennett for three years touring the world. When you’re singing love songs, that’s what you want people to feel.”

Kimmel jokingly asked her whether she was having an affair with Bennett, to which she replied: “No, I’m an artist and I guess we did a good job and, told ya.” She added: “I don’t feel like I won, I feel like we won.”

Gaga and Cooper received a standing ovation from the crowd for the performance, although The Independent‘s music critic was less impressed.

“There could be 100 people in a room, and only one of them is singing off key, and that’s Bradley Cooper,” Alexandra Pollard wrote. ”Actually, Lady Gaga also had a few wobbly moments performing her and Mark Ronson’s song. She brought it back with a vengeance for the song’s climax, though, after which Cooper came and sat uncomfortably close and ruined it again.”

Winners at this year’s ceremony included Olivia Colman for The Favourite, Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody, Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk and Mahershala Ali whose film Green Book won Best Picture. Alfonso Cuarón took home Best Director for his Netflix drama Roma.

You can find a full list of winners here.