Lady Gaga Greenlights Weird Al Yankovic's "Born This Way" Parody After Big Misunderstanding

Weird Al Yankovic has forged a three-decade career by covering A-list artists, everyone from Madonna to Michael Jackson to Diddy. But one artist who didn't apparently appreciate his sense of humor is Lady Gaga, who had allegedly rejected Al's parody of her song "Born This Way." But it turns out it was all one big misunderstanding--and it was her manager's fault! Apparently Gaga never even heard Al's parody until he came forward and put it online in protest.

"My parodies have always fallen under what the courts call 'fair use,' and this one was no different, legally allowing me to record and release it without permission," Al wrote in a post called "THE GAGA SAGA" on his blog Wednesday. "But it has always been my personal policy to get the consent of the original artist before including my parodies on any album, so of course I will respect Gaga's wishes. However, given the circumstances, I have no problem with allowing people to hear it online, because I also have a personal policy not to completely waste my stinking time."

Al said he had no idea why Gaga supposedly objected ("obviously I take a few jabs at her, but y'know, it's satire--that's how it's supposed to work"), and expressed frustration that Gaga hadn't been able to make her decision based on reading his lyrics alone, before he went to the trouble of entering the studio.  But his greatest regret seemed to be that there would be no music video. "Man, I wish you all could have had a chance to see the video we were going to do for this thing. It was going to be BEYOND AWESOME, and disturbing on many levels. Oh well," blogged Al.

However, it turns out Gaga had never even heard the song she supposedly rejected. In a second, later blog, titled "GAGA UPDATE," Al wrote: "After putting my Lady Gaga parody on YouTube this morning--and announcing that it wouldn't be on my next album because Gaga didn't approve it--there was a huge outpouring of disappointment from the Internet. Apparently the fact that she didn't approve it was news to Lady Gaga herself! Gaga's manager has now admitted that he never forwarded my parody to Gaga--she had no idea at all. Even though we assumed that Gaga herself was the one making the decision (because, well, that's what we were TOLD), he apparently made the decision completely on his own. He's sorry. And Gaga loves the song."

Added Al: "I'm thrilled on many levels to hear this, because 1) I truly respect and admire Gaga as an artist and it pained me to think of her as having less than a great sense of humor, and 2) it means I GET TO PUT OUT MY ALBUM!"

So now that Gaga has given Al the thumbs-up, get ready to see Al outdo himself in the "I Perform This Way" video. We shall soon see Al's poker face onscreen!