Weird Al snubbed by Lady Gaga, releases his parody without permission as fair use

My movie agent, Justin Manask, also represents Weird Al Yankovic. I grew up with Allan Sherman albums and MAD Magazine flexidiscs, so when I first heard Weird Al, I knew I'd found my kind of guy. Justin wrote to me last night: "You're going to love this. Lady Gaga denied Weird Al the right to release his parody of BORN THIS WAY, only the second time in his career that he's been denied [ed: the other refusal came from Prince]. But he recorded the track at her request as a part of the approval process… the first time any artists has made that request. She summarily passed without comment. So instead of selling a couple hundred thousand or a million copies… he gave PERFORM THIS WAY away for free to his 2 million followers on Twitter."

The ensuing hoo-hah seems to have swayed Ms Gaga, who has authorised the inclusion of PERFORM THIS WAY on Weird Al's album.

"Weird Al" Yankovic – Perform This Way