Lady Gaga dismisses longtime creative director Laurieann Gibson

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Lady Gaga and her longtime creative director Laurieann Gibson have parted ways professionally.

After hip-hop gossip site MediaTakeOut reported that the two recently had a “bitter fight,” a source close to Gibson confirmed to Pop & Hiss late Sunday that the choreographer indeed had been dismissed by Gaga.

Their partnership goes back to 2007, when Gaga was a new signee at Interscope Records. Though the singer’s vocal ability and musicianship was always there, Gibson has been credited by many with shaping the then-struggling singer into the multiplatinum, Grammy-winning performer of today.

Gibson recalled the pair’s initial conversations during an interview with The Times in 2010. “She came to me like, ‘I got dropped and I don’t really know if I have it in me to know what I need to do to make my dream come true.’ And then she played me her record and I said, ‘Listen, I’ve got enough for the both of us, let’s go.’ We started designing her opinion as a live performer and what that would be, what the records would feel like visually. How would ‘Just Dance’ turn into ‘Poker Face,’ into ‘Bad Romance’ — and now the ‘Monster Ball’ [tour].”

Although the move might come as a surprise, in recent months Gaga’s most passionate fans, affectionately known as Little Monsters, have called into question Gibson’s public statements about the singer. As Gaga rolled out her latest album, “Born This Way,” Gibson balanced the project with a few of her own: she launched the BET dance competition show ‘Born to Dance,’ E!’s dance reality show ‘The Dance Scene,’ and directed Gaga’s Emmy-winning HBO concert special.

During an interview with Gibson earlier this year, Pop & Hiss asked her thoughts on Gaga’s ongoing comparison to Madonna. It was a small reference that led to a firestorm of controversy when the piece ran in May. Speaking of the ways in which she modeled Gaga’s visual aesthetic on Madonna’s work, Gibson said that Madonna ‘should be bitter, because I did it on purpose, and you can quote me. I did it on purpose because for all those kids who believe that you can’t, I wanted to let them feel that you can. And that’s what I represent, that’s what Gaga represents.”

Blogs immediately ran with the quote and took it as Gibson saying they copy the singer, which led to some Little Monsters attacking the creative director on Twitter.

A handful of outlets, including MediaTakeOut, Entertainment Weekly and the Hollywood Reporter have referenced the comments as the beginning of a fallout between the two. The rift seemed to continue once Gibson began directing Gaga’s videos.

During the filming of “Judas,” Gibson openly stated that the clip’s sexualized religious imagery made her uncomfortable, and her comments on the video for “The Edge of Glory” sparked a Twitter tirade between Gibson and fans that continued when she quoted another commenter’s disappointment over the final clip — one who thought a Google Chrome commercial was better than the video.

“listen u disrespectful ... they had an issue on set I don’t lie!!!!!’ and ‘creative Changes happen always educate ignorant Monster’s!!!,’ she wrote on the Twitter handle that was recently deleted — she has a new, protected one.

Richard Jackson, who was Gibson’s second in command and often featured on her reality shows, is now choreographing Gaga’s performances.

ALSO:

Laurieann Gibson puts Lady Gaga and other stars in step

Lady Gaga’s ‘Judas’ video leaks: Leather, Mary Magdalene, foot washing and dance galore

Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ video: Making goddess culture accessible

— Gerrick D. Kennedy