Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Ball Summer Stadium Tour kicks off this coming Sunday July 17 in Dusseldorf. Five days to go and… well…there’s drama. I saw this on Twitter last night:
every lady gaga dancer is announcing they’re departing from the haus because of richy jackson. montana, sloan, asiel, richy, kevin and now graham. a whole family ripped apart because of this fucking man. i’m so fucking disgusted and pissed. the end of an era.
— monster reactions (@LMonsterReacts) July 11, 2022
Since I’m not a Little Monster, these names meant nothing to me but Gaga was trending on social media because the Monsters are going bonkers. Apparently several of her long-time dancers have quit the tour because of how they were being treated by choreographer Richard “Richy” Jackson. Here’s one of them with the explanation on social media:
Lady Gaga’s longtime dancer Montana Efew announced that she won’t be part of Lady Gaga’s World Tour due to creative differences with her current choreographer. pic.twitter.com/hMkG7VKMzc
— Lady Gaga Now 🃠(@ladygaganownet) July 11, 2022
I’m told by the Gaga followers at work that Little Monsters are particularly concerned because one of Gaga’s most popular dancers, Asiel, is out too.
Asiel, ex dançarino de Lady Gaga, também confirmou que não estará na #TheChromaticaBall. pic.twitter.com/DPfxiS8NVb
— RDT Lady Gaga | Fan page (@RDTLadyGaga) July 11, 2022
This is Asiel with Gaga during previous performances:
now that asiel won't be participating i would like to say rip to this iconic tour moment where asiel carries gaga ✨ pic.twitter.com/3gRK8dO1gm
— ✨ (@xoxo_innie) July 11, 2022
That is… not a small number of veteran dancers who’ve been with Gaga for years. It can’t have been an easy decision for them. In Montana’s video above she is clear about her love for Gaga, how much she appreciates their time together, so obviously the dancers aren’t holding this against Gaga directly but also, even their affection for her and their history isn’t enough to overcome the emotional turmoil that they’ve been experiencing allegedly as a result of working with Richy. At the time of this writing, Gaga has not addressed the controversy. But, again, the first show is in five days. And if all these key dancers have left, it’s a question of if this will impact the performance. Something to keep an eye on.