Lady Gaga's flowing layered dress and towering heels was not the only highlight of the MTV Video Music Award night on Sunday. The pop star who collected eight trophies at the ceremony chose a shocking raw red meat dress to accept one of her statuettes. Later in Ellen DeGeneres' talk show she admitted that the dress was intended to make a statement.

She was wearing nothing but a raw, red meat dress with a matching purse that became one of the most talked about moments of the televised show. It was one of several different costumes the singer wore on Sunday, including one that looked like a large black trash bag.

Gaga has donned a meat bikini for the cover of Vogue Hommes Japan's September issue. Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said that wearing a dress made from cuts of dead cows is offensive enough to bring comment.

Lady Gaga told DeGeneres she meant no disrespect to anyone that is vegan or vegetarian, and called herself the most judgment free human being on the earth.

Singer Cher, whom Gaga asked to hold her meat purse while accepting her award on stage, also defended the 24-year old pop star.

Cher tweeted on Monday that as an art piece it was astonishing! and that the meat purse was genius. She continued her tweets on the same subject and added modern art elicits discussion, introspection & conflict! Everyone's talking about it! BINGO!

Lady Gaga is known in equal measures about her eccentric outfits and string of hits like Bad Romance and Paparazzi. She also does shocking live stunts such as setting her piano on fire, making her a phenomenon of sorts selling more than 10 million album sales in two years.

Lady Gaga