Lady Gaga’s Story — And the Biden Connection

 

 

Gaga first became closely associated with Biden through the It’s On Us campaign, a national initiative launched during the Obama administration to address sexual assault on college campuses.

In 2016, then-Vice President Biden appeared alongside Gaga in campaign events supporting It’s On Us, helping bring national attention to consent, bystander intervention and preventing sexual violence.

President Barack Obama later joked that Biden had made friends with Gaga while visiting colleges for the campaign, underscoring how closely the vice president became associated with the initiative.

The relationship became highly visible during Biden’s 2021 presidential inauguration, when Gaga performed the national anthem at the Capitol ceremony as Biden formally began his presidency.

Reuters reported that Gaga’s performance was part of an inauguration designed around themes of unity and diversity, with other major performers participating in ceremonies across Washington that day.

Her connection to Biden did not end with the inauguration. In 2022, Biden signed an executive order aimed at strengthening federal support for the arts and humanities.

The order reestablished the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, an advisory body intended to promote cultural policy, education, preservation and broader access to artistic programs.

Biden appointed Gaga and producer Bruce Cohen as co-chairs of the committee, giving the singer a formal role in a presidential initiative beyond her earlier advocacy work.

The appointment reflected Gaga’s broader involvement in arts and humanitarian causes, including advocacy related to mental health, youth issues, LGBTQ rights and support for communities facing discrimination.

Gaga returned to the White House in September 2023 for a meeting of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, where Biden personally greeted her in the Center Hall.

White House records from the meeting identified Gaga as a co-chair, placing her among the prominent cultural figures advising the administration on arts and humanities initiatives.

The Biden administration also highlighted the arts as part of American cultural and civic life, describing artists and cultural institutions as contributors to education, community engagement and democratic participation.

Gaga’s public relationship with Biden therefore developed through several distinct stages, beginning with sexual-assault prevention advocacy and expanding into presidential ceremonies and formal cultural-policy work.

Her appearances with Biden have also reflected the changing role of major entertainers in American political life, where celebrity visibility can help administrations communicate messages to broader audiences.

At the same time, Gaga has maintained an independent public identity rather than functioning solely as a political surrogate, continuing her music career and advocacy outside government programs.

The Biden connection is particularly notable because Gaga’s early work with the administration’s political circle focused on an issue that had personal significance for her advocacy and public campaigning.

Her collaboration with Biden also illustrates how White House cultural initiatives can bring entertainers directly into government advisory structures without making them federal officials or members of the administration.

Although Biden left office in January 2025, the documented relationship between the former president and Gaga remains part of both their public histories, spanning advocacy, entertainment and cultural policy.

Today, the Biden-Gaga connection is best understood through those documented intersections: sexual-assault prevention, the 2021 inauguration and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.