Bette Midler backed away from an incendiary tweet of a John Lennon and Yoko Ono song title comparing women to African Americans that set social media ablaze.
“‘Women, are the n-word of the world,’” the “Hocus Pocus” actress wrote in a since-deleted tweet Thursday. “Raped, beaten, enslaved, married off, worked like dumb animals; denied education and inheritance; enduring the pain and danger of childbirth and life IN SILENCE for THOUSANDS of years. They are the most disrespected creatures on earth.”
Midler, 72, was referring to Ono and Lennon’s song, “Woman is the N—r of the World,” and her remarks attracted enough anger for her to apologize, claiming the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and sexual assault investigation upset her.
“The too brief investigation of allegations against Kavanaugh infuriated me. Angrily I tweeted w/o thinking my choice of words would be enraging to black women who doubly suffer, both by being women and by being black,” she tweeted. “I am an ally and stand with you; always have. And I apologize.”
Despite her apology, Midler faced a slew of criticism from Twitter users, including 2008 Green Party candidate Rosa Clemente, who was the first Afro-Latina woman to ever run for vice president.
“To use this saying which has been deconstructed and deemed offensive to African-Americans in this country shows lack of knowledge on issues of race and concept of intersectionality,” Clemente wrote. “It also denies Black women agency. I would urge you to read Bell Hooks, June Jordan.”
However, after her apology, Midler wrote another since-deleted tweet attempting to defend her position.
“‘Women are the…etc’ is a quote from Yoko Ono from 1972, which I never forgot,” she wrote. “It rang true then, and it rings true today, whether you like it or not. This is not about race, this is about the status of women; THEIR HISTORY.”
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