Lady Gaga to Celebrate Thanksgiving With the Muppets
Kermit the Frog’s date to the 2009 VMAs, Lady Gaga, has reportedly filmed a holiday special with the Muppets for ABC.
The 90-minute program, Lady Gaga and the Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular, will air on Thanksgiving night, according to the Los Angeles Times. It will include the “Applause” singer performing her own songs, as well as some holiday classics, with the Muppets. It’s the singer’s second holiday special following 2011’s A Very Gaga Thanksgiving.
“I was so excited when ABC called me about doing a holiday special this year,” Gaga said in a statement. “I knew it just wouldn’t be a complete night of laughter and memories without the Muppets! Can’t wait to see the gang again and I hope Miss Piggy’s still not mad about Kermit. We’re just friends!”
“What an incredible opportunity!” added Kermit (or his rep). ” We have a long history with Ms. Gaga, so we jumped at the chance to do a holiday special with her.” The frog then referenced Gaga’s penchant for using Muppets as part of her couture. “We won’t even mind if she mistakes some of the Muppets for pieces of her wardrobe — again.”
It’s a fitting move for Gaga – who will release her third album, ARTPOP, in November. After all, the Muppets have played a major part in pop culture for the past few decades due to their frequent collaborations with celebrities, from Orson Welles making a cameo in 1979’s The Muppet Movie to making their own music video “She Drives Me Crazy” with Demi Moore, Conan O’Brien, Ozzy Osbourne and many more in 1994.
Gaga, too, has had her own fruitful relationship with the anthropomorphic animals over the years. In addition to making Piggy jealous with her VMAs date, she wore a dress made of Kermit the Frog toys on German TV that same year. (It was crafted by designer Jean Charles de Castelbajac.) She kept Muppet chic going in 2009, too, when she wore a puffy skirt made from Animal’s head at an event in Manchester. The following year, she hired Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to craft a fishy-looking “Fame Monster” for her Monster Ball Tour. In 2011, she was set to make a cameo à la Welles in Jason Segel’s film The Muppets, though it was either never shot or cut due to timing constraints.
The Muppets returned their love for Gaga in 2010, when Cookie Monster wore a suit made of cookies and sang “Cookie Face” (a “Poker Face” parody) in a campaign to get the Muppets to host Saturday Night Live. Also, in a 2012 Christmas book, Miss Piggy is seen with a ringtone by “Lady Moi-Moi.” Maybe she wasn’t so upset about Gaga taking Kermit on a date after all.