Bette Midler Slams Lady Gaga for Mermaid in Wheelchair Routine

Since she shot to international fame, Lady Gaga has often been accused of copying or even ripping off Madonna, a claim she always shot down as untrue. Now, Bette Midler is taking to Twitter to openly accusing her of stealing her routine.

During a recent live performance, Lady Gaga came onstage in a wheelchair, dressed in a mermaid costume.

Her appearance was enough for various groups to claim she was disrespecting the disabled but, as Bette puts it on her Twitter page, Gaga’s idea was not in the least bit original.

“I’m not sure @ladygaga knows that I’ve performed my mermaid in a wheelchair for millions of people – and many of them are still alive.....,” Midler tweeted some hours ago.

“Dear @ladygaga if you think a mermaid in a wheelchair seems familiar-it’s because it is!You can see it on youtube 24/7-with ME performing it,” she added later.

Even though Gaga’s little monsters immediately snapped at her, calling her several names we can’t reproduce in writing, Bette would not let this go.

She continued to tweet about the routine, saying Gaga could keep her entire bag of tricks, but stay away from the mermaid.

“Dear @ladygaga Ive been doing singing mermaid in a wheelchair since 1980-You can keep the meat dress and the firecracker [breasts]-mermaid’s mine,” she wrote.

Even though Gaga did not respond on Twitter (at least, not directly), Bette Midler eventually calmed down and attempted to fix what the harsh words from before might have ruined.

“@ladygaga, let’s drink this over at the Emmys in September. Fabulous mermaids can coexist!” she added, extending to Gaga a virtual olive branch on the same social networking website.

Speaking just recently about claims that she was copying Madonna in almost everything she did, from her costumes to her music, gaga shot down rumors, calling them absurd and ridiculous: artists always find inspiration in other artists, but that doesn’t mean one’s a thief and the other is the victim.