US envoy 'helped Lady Gaga secure EuroPride show'
- Published
The New York native cited her Italian roots and her real name: Stefania Germanotta
The US envoy in Rome helped secure pop star Lady Gaga's performance at a gay pride concert there, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.
Lady Gaga played this month for tens of thousands of fans at EuroPride, a festival calling for gay, lesbian and transgender rights on the continent.
The Italian-American pop star is known for her advocacy of gay causes.
US Ambassador to Italy David Thorne's letter to her was "instrumental" in bringing her to Rome, Mrs Clinton said.
"Organisers of the EuroPride event desperately wanted her to perform, and a letter to her from Ambassador Thorne was instrumental in sealing the deal," Mrs Clinton told a group of gay and lesbian state department employees on Monday.
At the concert on 11 June at the Circus Maximus in Rome, Lady Gaga wore a green wig and performed a few songs, then denounced intolerance and violence against gays and transgender people in Europe and the Middle East.