A Note From Jack White About Lady Gaga & The Media

Earlier this week U.K.’s Esquire gave readers a sneak peek at its January issue, featuring White on the cover.

Pointing out that White’s opinion’s on Twitter was “not keen” and Lady Gaga was “even less keen,” the publication posted the following quote on its website:

“I don’t think she lives it because it’s all artifice,” says White of Gaga. “It’s all image with no meaning behind it. You can’t sink your teeth into it. It’s a sound bite. It’s very of this age, because that’s what people want.”

One of the publications to freak out about the quote was NME, which ran with a headline saying “Jack White on Lady Gaga: ‘It’s all artifice.’” NME added another quote from the interview in which White complained about Twitter and said, “the only people who should have [Twitter account] are comedians. Because it’s all about one-liners.”

The Gaga quote was soon all over the internet, from major music magazines to indie blogs, framed as yet another instance of one musicians talking crap on another.

White had a few choices to make. He could either ignore the issue until it was all forgotten by the time the next celebrity said something scandalous or got arrested or whatever – or he could explain himself.

In addition to posting a statement on his website, he ironically posted a link on Third Man Records’ Twitter page, saying “A note from Jack White regarding recent drama baiting from some members of the music press.”
       
Here is White’s complete statement, simply titled “A Note From Jack”:

“I’d like to address the recent tabloidesque drama baiting by the press in regards to Lady Gaga. I never said anything about her music, or questioned the authenticity of her songs in any way. I was in a conversation about the drawbacks of image for the sake of image, and that it is popular nowadays to not question an image in front of you, but only to label it as “cool” or “weird” quickly and dispose of it. I don’t like my comments about Lady Gaga’s presentation being changed into some sort of negative critique of her music. If you’re going to try to cause drama, at least get the quotes right. I think journalists should also be held accountable for what they say. Especially publications like the NME who put whatever words they feel like between two quotation marks and play it off as a quote. Maybe somebody with more lawyers can take them to task, but i’ll just use the Internet and Twitter instead. I also think that kind of tabloid drama encourages artists to not express their opinions in the press, and instead give polite soundbites that don’t stimulate thought about creativity and the consumption of art in its many guises.

“Peace to Lady Gaga and I fully congratulate and compliment her on her championing of gay rights issues and the momentum it’s given to help create change.

“Thank you.

“Jack White

“III”