Target, Lady Gaga team up

The flamboyant recording artist Lady Gaga says Target has agreed to be more supportive of gay organizations, as part of deal allowing the retailer to sell an exclusive edition of Gaga's upcoming album "Born This Way."

In an interview with Billboard magazine, Gaga said she wasn't initially comfortable with the Target partnership. But she met with the "the entire executive staff" at Target to discuss her concerns about the retailer's $150,000 donation last year to a group backing Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer.

Target said the donation was motivated by business interests. But Emmer opposes same-sex marriage. Many Target employees and customers were outraged.

Best Buy also contributed money to the group supporting Emmer. But Best Buy didn't catch the criticism that Target did.

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Gaga said she had a very intense conversation with Target.

Ppart of my deal with Target is that they have to start affiliating themselves with LGBT charity groups" and "make amends for the mistakes they've made in the past," she said in the interview.

Target recently announced it has created a committee to review political contributions.

In the Billboard article, a Target spokesman said the company is excited to be working with Lady Gaga. He also said the retailer has set aside almost $500,000 for LGBT organizations.

Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" has become the fastest-selling single ever on Apple's iTunes store worldwide. It racked up more than 1 million downloads in five days.

Lady Gaga's videos on YouTube have been viewed tens of millions of times. One of them alone has nearly 250 million views.

In an interview with Sirius XM Radio last week, Gaga said she's on the "drunk diet." And the singer said in a television interview last weekend that she also smoked marijuana while writing her songs.

Neither Target nor Lady Gaga could be reached for further comment.

(This report contains information from MPR wire services.)