Gaga Slams Ariz. Immigration Law

Lady Gaga denounced the new immigration law in Arizona when she took the stage in Phoenix for her Monster Ball tour Saturday. The pop icon stopped short of calling for a boycott of the state, saying that it was preferable to “peaceably protest” the controversial measure, which includes harsh penalties for illegal immigrants.

“I want you to reject any person or any thing or any law that have ever made you feel like you don’t belong,” Gaga told screaming fans, as captured in the video. She mentioned that she dismissed recent pleas from some “really big rock-and-rollers, big pop stars, big rappers” who wanted her to boycott Arizona because of the law, formally known as SB1070.

Gaga said she told her colleagues in the music industry, “Do you really think that us dumb fucking pop stars are going to collapse the economy of Arizona?”

Instead, said Gaga, “We have to be active. We have to actively protest, and the nature of the Monster Ball is to actively protest prejudice and injustice and that bullshit that is put on our society.”

Gaga concluded her statement with a shout-out to her LGBT fans, and she encouraged all the attendees to leave her concert with a more positive self-image.

“You’re a superstar, no matter who you are or where you come from, and you were born that way,” she said.