Steven Klein, the director behind Lady Gaga’s new music video, has responded to criticism of its use of religious imagery and symbolism.

The nine-minute video for ‘Alejandro’ includes scenes where Lady Gaga wears a nun’s habit and ingest rosary beads.

It has come under fire from the Catholic League, as well as Katy Perry, who said: "Using blasphemy as entertainment is as cheap as a comedian telling a fart joke."

In an email to MTV, fashion photographer Klein insisted that the religious symbolism was “not meant to denote anything negative”.

Instead, he said, it “represents the character's battle between the dark forces of this world and the spiritual salvation of the Soul”.

He added: "Thus at the end of the film, she chooses to be a nun, and the reason her mouth and eyes disappear is because she is withdrawing her senses from the world of evil and going inward towards prayer and contemplation."

He also said the scene where Lady Gaga ingested rosary beads was meant to represent "the desire to take in the holy".

The video has already attracted more than 8 million views on YouTube since it debuted on Tuesday.

'Alejandro' is released on CD, 7" picture disk and as a digital download on June 28.

(by Jason Gregory)