PETA Senior VP Dan Mathews: Lady Gaga's Fur Flip-Flop Is Bad News for Her Human-Rights Advocacy, Too (EXCLUSIVE)

Posted on Aug 14th 2012 6:20PM by Contessa Gayles

Peta Senior VP Dan Mathews Lady Gaga fur Getty Images

"There comes a time in an artist's career where they really make a move that's out of character and leaves a lot of people cold," People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Senior Vice President Dan Mathews tells AOL Music. For Mathews, that artist is Lady Gaga, and that time in her career has come. The animal-rights advocate called out Mother Monster in an open letter posted on PETA's website yesterday (Aug. 13) for wearing fur on several occasions after proclaiming, "I hate fur and I don't wear fur," on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" back in 2009.

But Mathews insists Gaga's fur flip-flop is more than just a matter of animal rights. Her actions also suggest her ambivalence towards the human rights issues she has so ardently taken up as her causes -- namely gay rights and anti-bullying legislation.

"She's made a career of speaking up for the rights of gays and that's her niche market," Mathews, who is himself an openly gay man, says. "That's how she has marketed herself -- as someone who is standing up for the oppressed. We were thrilled that she included animals in that when she came out against fur so clearly on 'Ellen,' so it was a bit of a shock that she started to sell out and was wearing one fur after another."

"You start to wonder whether she really is against violence," Mathews says of the Born This Way Foundation creator. "She's supporting one of the most violent industries on the planet when she wears fur. And it's not like she's only done it once or twice -- it's part of her costume. I think the vulgar side to Gaga is causing her to lose many of her fans, me among them."

The PETA VP says his organization reached out to Gaga "countless times" in private to inquire about the authenticity of her furry fashions to no avail. "So after she wore the most recent coat, we called the store that she bought it in and they said it was absolutely real," Mathews reveals of the pink Armani rabbit coat Gaga sported earlier this month (August).

Since Mathews' open letter was published, Gaga has posted the following response on Littlemonsters.com and Twitter, "For those press and such who are writing about whether or not my fur is actually real, please don't forget to credit the designer HERMES. Thank You!" Gaga's decidedly flippant remark refers to a coat she recently wore in Bulgaria, which real or fake, was not one of the outfits Mathews called out in his letter. "It was kind of a non-response," he said of the singer's message. "She's a label whore, is all I got from that."

"I think she's trying to be evasive, because she's really losing some of her fan base with this activity," Mathews continues. "She courts the fashion crowd, she courts the gay crowd -- you can do all of that without being a horrible animal abuser ... It's not cool. It's not sexy. It's not quirky. It's not funny. It's mean and that doesn't really jive with her image."

The PETA VP insists his letter to Gaga was a challenge to the pop star to "educate herself" and to make her "feel that she has to be responsible for her actions."

Read Mathews' original letter to Gaga, here.

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