Lady Gaga, Harvard, and MacArthur Foundation Join Forces to Fight Bullying

The Berkman Center for Internet and Society is among the partners in the Born This Way Foundation.

Lady Gaga

Grammy-winning singer Lady Gaga announced Wednesday that she will partner with Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society (as well as the MacArthur Foundation and the California Endowment) to launch the Born This Way Foundation, a nonprofit focusing on youth empowerment and "issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development,” reports the Huffington Post.

Gaga decided to fight bullying head-on after the suicide of one of her fans, 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer, reports the Washington Post. After reports of his death—thought to be a suicide caused by bullying over his sexuality—Gaga tweeted: “The past days I’ve spent reflecting, crying, and yelling. I have so much anger. It is hard to feel love when cruelty takes someone’s life.” Soon after, the singer attended a Silicon Valley fundraising event at the home of Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg ’91, M.B.A. ’95, for President Obama, where Gaga publicly questioned the president about bullying.

The 25-year-old singer and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, will direct the foundation, named after her second album and its title track.

“Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment,” Gaga said in a media statement.

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