The song”Do what U want ” featuring Gaga and R. Kelly was withdrawn from the album in Jan. But after some wait, gaga re-released the album without this song.
The reason behind the re-release is the allegations charged on kelly for child sexual abuse and child pornography. The vinyl copies of the album – Artpop are sold out now as per the Rolling Stone(without the song “Do what U want”). This decision follows Kelly’s July arrest and incarceration in a Chicago federal prison where he’s awaiting trial on 18 charges of felony sex crimes involving four accusers, according to USA Today. Though Kelly and his lawyer are constantly denying the accusations over him.
Well, Gaga isn’t the only artist to do so, singers like Celine Dion and Chance the Rapper too removed their collaborations with kelly due to accusations of child pornography on him.
On Jan 10, Gaga released a long tweet on twitter, stating that she knows the pain of being sexually assaulted as she too had been gone through it.
I stand by anyone who has ever been the victim of sexual assault: pic.twitter.com/67sz4WpV3i
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) January 10, 2019
In a 2014 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Gaga revealed that she was raped when she was 19 years old. “Do What U Want” — which features her and Kelly singing lyrics like, “do what you want with my body” — was intended to be “something extremely defiant and provocative,” Gaga tweeted on Jan. 10.
A federal grand jury in Chicago indicted Kelly on 13 counts, which the assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois confirmed to the New York Times included “enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice, in addition to the child pornography charges.” Separately, Brooklyn federal prosecutors indicted Kelly in July on one count of racketeering and four counts of violating the Mann Act, “which prohibits transporting people across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.”
In a Jan. 5 tweets, Chance apologized for working with Kelly on 2015’s “Somewhere in Paradise” stating that-
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) January 6, 2019
So, all in all, to conclude the story, Gaga, by choosing to re-release her album Artpop without “Do what U want,” showed that humanity and sensitive issues(of the assaulted victims) come first then her work.