Charity event featuring Lady Gaga canceled

A charity event featuring Lady Gaga was canceled this week (ends23Sep16) following an exploding battery controversy.

The Born This Way star was set to perform at the Samsung Hope for Children Gala at the Manhattan Center in New York City on Thursday (22Sep16), but company bosses canceled the event following their recall of 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones because of dangerous battery issues.

"(We want) to fully focus on our current business environment," a representative for the company says. "We remain committed to honoring our charitable partners, and this year they will receive an even greater donation than planned. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused and hope that our consumers and partners understand."

Attendees who paid $4,500 (GBP3,500) to attend the event will be refunded their money and executives at the company have forfeited the venue fee, Gaga's pay, catering, security, and other costs associated with the gala, according to the New York Post.

"Samsung execs thought it wouldn't look good to be partying while their phones burned, as it were," a source adds. "But (the ­cancellation) was a multimillion-dollar disaster that will actually bring more attention to the recall."

In 2015, bosses at the company helped to raise $2 million (GBP1.5 million) for charity and celebrities including Ben Stiller, Gaga's pal and recording partner Tony Bennett, Nick Cannon, and Demi Lovato attended the event.