Lady Gaga Explains VMA Meat Dress

After Ellen DeGeneres presented Lady Gaga with her first award of the night, Gaga returned the favor by stopping by for the season premiere of her talk show following the MTV VMAs, still clad in her controversial meat dress.

Kissing on the lips as they greeted, the pair began by chatting about Gaga’s pre-show jitters. “I was supremely nervous in a way I’ve never been nervous for tonight because I wasn’t performing,” she revealed to Ellen. “I’m not used to just going to accept awards and have my pictures taken. I don’t do that.”

But she wasn’t afraid to make a statement with her beef outfit, which was made up of real meat from a butcher shop. “It’s certainly no disrespect to anyone that’s vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I’m the most judgment-free person on the Earth,” she explained. “However, it has many interpretations, but for me this evening, it’s as if we don’t stand up for what we believe in, if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon, we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones. And I am not a piece of meat.”