Lady Gaga won't play Donatella Versace after all

Sorry, Lady Gaga fans: the pop singer won’t be playing Donatella Versace.

Despite erroneous November tabloid reports, American Crime Story executive producer Ryan Murphy told reporters at the Television Critics Association’s press tour on Thursday that his former American Horror Story: Hotel star is not on board for his tale of the 1987 murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.

“No,” Murphy replied when asked about the rumor. Then he told the press huddle: “She’s a friend. But she’s very busy this next year — she’s doing Super Bowl and then she’s doing A Star Is Born and I believe that she’s going on tour. And when you’re going to do a show like Versace, it’s a five-month commitment, it’s a very big show, we’re shooting it all over the world. So I just don’t think with her schedule, I knew that it would never had worked. But I would love to work with her on something in the future.”

Yet we hear Murphy at least approached Gaga for the role and agreed at EW’s PopFest event last fall that she’d be perfect for the gig. “I was always very moved and freaked out by the Versace assassination, and I thought it was a really great story to do because it’s a manhunt season,” Murphy said at the time. “[Serial killer Andrew Cunanan] killed four people and then Versace, and was on the loose. We’re exploring the reasons of how he got away with being undetected.”

American Crime Story: Versace/Cunanan is the third edition of the ACS and is based on the book Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth. It’s the franchise following up last fall’s blockbuster The People vs. O.J. Simpson. The second edition, Katrina, will debut in 2018. FX expects Versace to debut about six months later.