When one makes a song called "Judas" there is bound to be some controversy around it, especially if the artist in question is Lady Gaga. Mother monster made two videos for her second Born This Way single, one of which was set to premiere tonight on E! News Daily while the other was slated to debut on American Idol. But, like most music-related releases, it was leaked online before its official release though it was removed from the Internet shortly thereafter.
The song itself, which was also leaked prematurely, enraged many with suggestive lyrics like, "In the most Biblical sense/ I am beyond repentance/ Fame hooker, prostitute wench," which are sung from the perspective of Mary Magdalene. Though Gaga has never been one to shy away from controversy, she took pains to keep her video from being too offensive. "We don't touch on things that we have no right touching upon," her creative director Laurieann Gibson explained to the Hollywood Reporter.
Imagine if Jesus was the head of a biker gang and you've basically got the gist of this music video. Described by Gaga as "a motorcycle Fellini film," the video clip features the singer in the role of Mary Magdalene. The clip opens with Gaga on the back of Christ's motorcycle--potentially sacrilegious. Jesus, sporting cornrows and wearing a golden crown of thorns like bling, speeds down a highway in what is supposed to be a modern day Jerusalem. His twelve apostles wear leather jackets with their (relatively chaste) names emblazoned on the back. Peter, John, etc. instead of Rex, Crusher, etc.
They execute a Gaga-sized dance routine in an "electric chapel," and the Judas Kiss is preceded by Gaga painting his lips with a lipstick-gun before he gives Jesus two smackers on the cheek. For normal people, this would be a really weird video to make; for Gaga its relatively tame.