Bette Midler has apologised after a tweet she posted about Caitlyn Jenner was deemed transphobic.
The 70-year-old actress took to her social media page following the news that Caitlyn’s E! reality show I Am Cait, which followed her after she transitioned to become a woman from her former identity of Bruce Jenner, had been cancelled after two seasons.
“Now that @IAmCait has been cancelled, will she go back to being Bruce?” Bette wrote.
The actress then added to the controversy by referring to Caitlyn’s ex-wife Kris Jenner, and her ability to spin any experience into a money-making one, continuing: “Will Kris take him back? Do I smell a re-wedding?!”
Following her tweet, many people slammed her for being transphobic, causing Bette to quickly issue an apology.
“DEAR FRIENDS @HRC, WHOM I HAVE ALWAYS SUPPORTED,” she wrote, referencing The Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest civil rights organisation working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. “SORRY LAST TWEET OFFENDED. AN IDLE MUSING. I SEEM TO HAVE MISREAD THE TEMPER OF THE TIMES.”
Bette’s apology received a mixed response, with some accepting it and others suggesting the actress was still unaware of the major error she had made in her initial tweet.
U.S. writer Parker Molloy explained in her replies to the apology: “There are ways to joke about Jenner that aren’t transphobic. Calling her ‘him’ isn’t one. The issue wasn’t making a joke about Caitlyn Jenner, but in referring to her as ‘him’.
“That’s transphobic, about more than her. This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be transgender. Really disappointing.”
This is not the first time Bette has hit headlines after talking about Caitlyn. After the reality star revealed she is a Republican, Bette took to Twitter to question her views.
“People, #CaitlynJenner says she is STILL voting GOP (Republican Party, also known as Grand Old Party) in 2016,” Bette tweeted in November (15). “Regardless of gender identity, I guess she identifies most as ‘uninformed.'”
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