Earlier this year, Lady Gaga scrapped a planned video for her single "Do What U Want." Shot in September and allegedly initially set for a December release, the video featured R. Kelly and was directed by photographer Terry Richardson.
I know you're waiting for the DWUW video. Its unlike any video I've ever done. Very Personal. Just making it perfect. Exciting, #ARTPOP
In January 2014, Gaga blamed the video's delay on "those who have betrayed me gravely mismanaged my time."
It is late because, just like with the Applause video unfortunately, I was given a week to plan and execute it. It is very devastating for someone like me, I devote every moment of my life to creating fantasies for you. All my my most successful videos were planned over a period of time when I was rested and my creativity was honored. Those who have betrayed me gravely mismanaged my time and health and left me on my own to damage control any problems that ensued as a result. Millions of dollars are not enough for some people. They want billions. Then they need trillions. I was not enough for some people. They wanted more. I am very grateful to the photographers and designers who have always stood by me to make sure my fans are never aware of the things that happen behind the scenes, but unfortunately after my surgery I was too sick, too tired, and too sad to control the damage on my own. My label was not aware that this was going on. The next few months of ARTPOP will truly be its beginning. Because those who did not care about ARTPOP's success are now gone, and the dreams I have been planning can now come to fruition. Please forgive me that I did not foresee this coming, I never thought after all the years of hard work that those I called friends and partners would ever care so little at a time I needed them the most.
The delay coincided with reports of sexual misconduct by Richardson and R. Kelly.
In December 2013, the Village Voice published an interview with music journalist Jim DeRogatis that illuminated stories of R. Kelly’s history of sexual assault. Gaga re-cut "Do What U Want" in late 2013, replacing Kelly with Christina Aguilera.
Richardson has faced allegations that he coerces models into sexual acts for years. In March 2013, he denied those allegations — and he did so again in a New York cover story this week — but many of his employers have begun distancing themselves from the photographer.
“Gaga had a video directed by an alleged sexual predator, starring another sexual predator. With the theme, ‘I’m going to do whatever I want with your body’? It was literally an ad for rape,” an anonymous source told the New York Post.
Now, TMZ has obtained an explicit clip of the scrapped "Do What U Want" video.
In the clip, Kelly plays a doctor and sedates Gaga.
Sources say that when the video was shot, Gaga was "in the dark" about the claims against Richardson.
