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Lady Gaga’s bassist derides the LGBTQ “agenda” over the singer’s birthday weekend

Jonny Goood (left) performing with Lady Gaga.
Jonny Goood (left) performing with Lady Gaga. Photo: Screenshot/YouTube

Lady Gaga is celebrating her birthday today, turning 35 years old. But many fans of the out bisexual entertainer were dismayed, as one of her top collaborators spent the last few days online deriding the “the agenda of sexual orientation in music.”

In videos that he posted online but have since been deleted or expired, bassist Jonny Goood — who has performed with Lady Gaga for several years, including her Super Bowl 51 halftime show performance in 2017 — questioned why “sexual preference [is] so prevalent in music.”

Related: The “Call Me By Your Name” author loves that Lil Nas X named the song after his book

Jonny Goood was previously a celebrated member of Gaga’s troupe, having also performed with the likes of The Weekend, Jhene Aiko, Joe Jonas, and Wiz Khalifa. Outside of his collaborators, Goood’s claim to fame is his self-proclaimed belief that he is the inventor of “Bass Hop,” or the combination of rapping and playing bass simultaneously.

He quit his career as a police officer with the Savannah Police Department in Savannah, Georgia to move to Los Angeles and begin a music career with less than $300, a story that has earned him admiration from around the world.

His Facebook biography proudly reads that he “spent the last two years playing alongside Lady GaGa.” He accompanied her on the Joanne World Tour, in addition to her headline performances at the Super Bowl, Grammy Awards, Oscars, and Coachella festival. In addition to Lady Gaga, he has also performed with another out entertainer, Miley Cyrus.

Yet, after watching out musician Lil Nas X’s latest music video, Goood suddenly went into a tirade, demanding his followers not watch the video that promotes “sexual preferences,” a term that has historically been used in homophobic remarks and suggests that a person’s sexual orientation can be “changed.”

In a series of Instagram Stories, Goood dramatically groans and strains, claiming he had to “go wash my brain with soap” after watching Lil Nas X’s music video for “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name).” In the music video, Nas dons multiple outfits in drag, a bedazzled muscular bodysuit, or shirtless wearing knee-high stiletto boots and underwear, while giving the devil a lap dance.

He then implores his followers, “do not go watch that video, bro. On my moms, do not go watch that video.” He ponders, “I wanna know why is sexual preference so prevalent in music? Like, why is the agenda of sexual orientation and music so heavily correlated, like, I don’t get it?”

Just months ago, then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett apologized for using the term, acknowledging that it is offensive.

In another story, Goood further derided music artists who express their sexuality in their work. He hints that Lady Gaga is one of them.

“I make music with Zero sexual content. No gun violence, no degrading women, no drugs.. if that’s what you’re into,” he posted with a slightly smiling emoji. “It takes a ton of creative energy to create with none of those topics. You gotta think outside the box..”

“Of course, you wouldn’t know that bc you ONLY follow me bc i worked for one of your favorite artist,” he told his followers, adding the upside-down face emoji.

He then begs people to unfollow him if they disagree with his assessment of Lil Nas X’s video. “You may not be a believer in what I stand for. Just like your favorite artist, I got morals and code Of conduct. So you should unfollow me, plz and follow the ones you dig more closely.”

“Oh but that’s why I don’t really Like sex in music,” he claimed. adding that’s “why my own music doesn’t have it.”

“It’s easy, everyone does it [because] you guys love sex,” he continued. “I do to [sic], but I rather have it and then just write about something else lol.”

After his remarks and posts made their way elsewhere around the internet, Goood claimed he was being attacked for his opinion. “The LGBT community has fought for decades for freedom of expression and now you troll me [because] I express myself… So I don’t deserve to be on her team because I’m a straight man ?! That would be discriminatory bro,” he said in a comment on a now-deleted Instagram post. He also deactivated his Twitter account.

He tried to “clarify” to inquiring fans, telling them that Gaga’s hit song “Born This Way” don’t “sound sexual” to him, although the lyrics specifically talk about sexualities such as gay and straight.

“I never said anything about [being] gay,” he claimed.

Gaga is currently entrenched in Rome, working on the House of Gucci, a film about the Italian fashion house. Since being there, her dog-sitter was shot and left on the sidewalk bleeding, after people attempted to dognap her three French bulldogs from him. They were later recovered, but Gaga went as far as having to offer a reward for their safe return as her dog-sitter recovered in the hospital.

Italian media has also picked up Goood’s comments, with Yes Life Magazine reporting that the “homophobic” phrases he used may “embarrass” himself and Gaga.

Goood has previously praised Gaga for being “my most favorite person I’ve ever worked with.”

In 2017, during the leadup to their Super Bowl appearance together, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “she’s humble, she’s a musician, she’s for the people, for the underdog. She’s cool, she’s supportive of us, she lets us be who we are, wear what we want.

“…she’s all about expressing yourself. She practices what she preaches, for sure,” he adds.

His pleas for people not to watch Lil Nas X’s video didn’t seem to hamper its success so far. It has earned over 24 million views on YouTube within three days of its release. It’s the #1 song on iTunes at the moment, and Spotify data reads that it’s one of the top three streamed songs on the platform in the U.S.

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