Lady Gaga on the Negativity Surrounding Joker 2: 'People Just Sometimes Don't Like Some Things'

Lady Gaga Addresses the Backlash Against 'Joker: Folie à Deux'

Pop icon and actress Lady Gaga has finally addressed the mixed reception to her latest film, Joker: Folie à Deux. Since its release, Gaga, who portrayed Harley Quinn, has remained largely silent on the film's performance, despite releasing a companion album, Harlequin. In a recent interview with Elle, she revealed her perspective on the negative criticism.

Gaga explained that she navigated the negativity, as she does with any challenging release, by managing her expectations beforehand. She stated simply, "People just sometimes don’t like some things. And I think to be an artist, you have to be willing for people to sometimes not like it. And you keep going even if something didn’t connect in the way that you intended."

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Released last October, Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to Todd Phillips' highly successful 2019 film, received underwhelming reviews from critics and audiences alike. Currently holding a 31% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film's theatrical run was short-lived, leading to a swift digital release. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav even described the film's performance as "disappointing."

Gaga acknowledged the difficulty of managing the fear of failure, stating, "When that makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of. It’s part of the mayhem."

Despite the less-than-stellar reception of Joker: Folie à Deux, Gaga is moving forward with the release of her new studio album, Mayhem, this March, following a five-year hiatus since Chromatica. For further perspectives on the film, explore opinions from Quentin Tarantino and Hideo Kojima, and see our list of 2024's biggest cinematic disappointments.