Lady Gaga’s mother Cynthia Germanotta addressed the issue of bullying in public schools with President Barack Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and announced that Gaga’s upcoming bus tour is an opportunity for her Born This Way Foundation and the Obama administration to partner with communities around the nation.
“We will be launching a ‘Born Brave’ bus tour early next year that will actually travel with my daughter around the country to 30 cities and I think this is a place where we, Born This Way, the administration, can partner — we can partner with you in the audience in those communities because the whole purpose of that tour will be to connect the youth,” said Germanotta at the U.S. Education Department’s Bullying Prevention Conference in Washington on Tuesday.
In the discussion moderated by Robert Ross of the California Endowment, Germanotta said Lady Gaga was bullied during her youth, recounting that she was once put in a trashcan.
Jarrett said the Obama administration has had to press Congress on bullying.
“The president believes real change happens from the bottom up, not from the top down. He and the first lady were able to keep a spotlight on this issue,” said Jarrett.
“We need to make sure that this administration is really holding Congress’ feet to the fire as well to say let’s make sure we have the legal tools to create an environment that doesn’t tolerate bullying.”