Stephanie Mills Calls Lady Gaga a "Culture Vulture," Says She Owes Her an Apology

Stephanie Mills, the original Dorothy in The Wiz on Broadway, stopped by The Jason Lee Show this week and told a story about Lady Gaga that she says she’s never forgotten. According to Mills, years ago Gaga’s team asked her to surprise Gaga at a New York photo shoot by performing“Home,”her signature song from The Wiz. Mills says Gaga showed no reaction at all during the performance, and then Gaga’s team demanded that she and her companions delete every photo from the shoot before they were allowed to leave. Mills called the moment“very disrespectful.”

She didn’t stop there. Mills said Gaga owes her an apology, telling the camera,“I hope you watch and I hope you remember what you did.”She also explained why she labels Gaga a culture vulture, pointing to Gaga having been managed by Black men, her R. Kelly collaboration, and her later work with Tony Bennett. Billboard has reached out to Gaga’s representatives for comment, and so far there’s been no public response.

The internet is already split: some say Mills waited years to speak her truth, others say an old photo shoot moment shouldn’t define Gaga’s legacy. Either way, this is one of those rare feuds that touches on race, credit, and respect in the music industry, so it’s not going anywhere quietly. What do you think: should Lady Gaga respond to Stephanie Mills publicly?