Lady Gaga: 'Being vomited on was art in its purest form'

Lady Gaga has spoken out about the backlash against her South By South West performance, during which she was vomited on by performance artist Millie Brown, drawing criticism for promoting eating disorders.

The star has defended herself against such accusations, which were initially made by US popstar Demi Lovato, who referred to the shocking show as 'sad', and wrote on Twitter: "As if we didn't have enough people glamorizing eat disorders already. Bottom line, it's not 'cool' or 'artsy' at all."

Gaga has now revealed she expected such backlash, and claims it was 'pure' art, and creative rebellion.

"I guess we weren't completely surprised. Millie and I know that not everybody's going to love that performance," the singer said in an interview on US show Today. "We both really believe in artistic expression and strong identities."

"I support her and what she does. ARTPOP, my new album, is about bringing art and music together and the sprit of creative rebellion. For us, that performance was art in its purest form. But we totally understand that some people won't be into it."

A petition has since been set up, which urges Gaga to end her working relationship with the English performance artist and "vomit painter.

It points out the singer once struggled with bulimia herself. "Pop star Lady Gaga once struggled with bulimia, but now she is glamourising the eating disorder," the petition begins. "This stunt was clearly intended to be provocative, tasteless and to create a media buzz around Lady Gaga...she should be more sensitive, having suffered from bulimia in the past."

"Hundreds of young women die from eating disorders every year, and many of her fans are at an age where women begin to develop these disorders. Lady Gaga needs to recognize the damage she could cause with these types of stunts," it continues.