Lady Gaga is being sued for more than $30 million by her previous producer/boyfriend, Rob Funari. Claiming that he was a key figure in the transformation of Lady Gaga, he believes that he deserves 20 percent of the proceeds from Gaga’s record deal with Interscope in late 2007.
It is my opinion that Funari clearly just wants a piece of her success. Gaga didn’t start becoming big until 2008 when her debut album, “The Fame,” hit stores. Clearly that was long after the two cut ties back in 2007.
Funari allegedly reports that he helped create the Lady Gaga moniker by accident through cell phone text. He typed “Radio Gaga” and his cell phone’s spell check converted the word “radio” to “lady.” The star loved it and from there “Lady Gaga” was born.
Not only does Funari claim that he came up with the name, but he also claims to have helped Stefani Germanotta with her persona. I don’t think he should get much of any credit because it was Germanotta’s outlandish theatrical performances as well as her unique style that made her Lady Gaga. She could have had any name, but her personality makes her intriguing.
My question is why, all of a sudden, is he coming out claiming that he’s part of her success now? If he wasn’t getting the proper royalties or producer fees then he should have pressed charges after the breakup in 2007. Now that the ambitious pop star is larger than life he wants to come back with his 15 minutes of fame. Hmmm, could this be another Kevin Federline?
If anything this proves to be a lesson of business before pleasure. Don’t date someone who’s on your payroll. It just looks bad and, in some cases, just like this one, it comes back to haunt you. I believe that Funari should have pressed charges right after the breakup since that was when their deal went south. Waiting a year or two to come out with all this just doesn’t look very promising. To me it was as if he waited until she earned more money so that he could slap her on the wrist and get more out of the deal.
