Recently, "Weird Al" Yankovic announced his plans for a parody of Lady Gaga's hit "Born This Way."  His song, "Perform This Way", was to be the first single from his new album.  Unfortunately, Lady Gaga denied permission... or did she?

Under "Fair Use", Weird Al's songs are protected and he doesn't need any artists' permission to make a parody of their work.  However, as a sign of respect, Yankovic always makes a point to get direct permission from the artist.  The only time he did a song without permission was "Amish Paradise", but it was a misunderstanding on the part of the respective record labels that lead Yankovic to believe he had Coolio's permission to parody "Gangta's Paradise."

First, Weird Al sent over a proposal idea to parody the song.  Then he was told that Lady Gaga would need to hear the song before giving permission.  Weird Al sent over the lyrics, but Lady Gaga's reps said she needed to hear the COMPLETE song.  Yankovic finished the song, sent it to Lady Gaga's people and then received his rejection notice.  This isn't the first time Weird Al has been rejected to use a song on a CD.  In the past he would usually perform those songs live, but this time Weird Al decided to leak the song online and offer it as a free download.

Luckily, none of that was necessary as it wasn't even Lady Gaga who denied permission.  Gaga's manager had been the one in contact with Yankovic, and he is the one who denied permission without consulting with Lady Gaga.  Gaga hadn't even heard the song when Yankovic received the rejection.  About the confusion, Weird Al posted on his website,

"He's sorry. And Gaga loves the song."

Now, the song will be featured on Yakovic's upcoming album and the video for the song will soon be filmed.

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