Lady Gaga photographed during the Academy Awards. (Image Courtesy: AFP)
Singer Lady Gaga led the Oscars in a rally against campus sexual assault, bringing together rape survivors who joined arms in solidarity.
The pop star, who recently spoke about being raped as a teenager, was introduced by Vice President Joe Biden who personally took part in Hollywood's biggest night to lend his voice to the cause.
Lady Gaga, singing to a piano and occasionally stretching her arms out with emotion, performed
Till It Happens To You which was nominated for the Oscar for best song for
The Hunting Ground, a documentary about rape on campus.
As she neared the end of the song, dozens of young women with the occasional young man took to the stage together with slogans handwritten on their arms that included
Not At All Your Fault and
Unbreakable.
Mr Biden, introducing Lady Gaga whom he described as "courageous" and a friend, urged artists and viewers to join him in signing an online pledge to promise to fight against sexual assault.
The pledge commits to "intervene in situations when consent has not or cannot be given" for sex.
"Despite significant progress over the last few years, too many women and men on and off college campuses are still victims of sexual abuse," he said.
"We must and we can change the culture, so that no abused woman or man like the survivors you will see tonight ever feel they have to ask themselves, 'What did I do?' They did nothing wrong."
Lady Gaga was nominated for the Oscar for best song, although she lost to Sam Smith's
Writing's on the Wall from the latest James Bond film
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Oscars 2016: Two Original Song Performances Cancelled From Broadcast)