Starts At 60
Bette Midler accidentally sets off gender war with just 5 words
June 5, 2017
Bette Midler was tweeting her despair over London’s latest terror attack when she accidentally set off a gender war.
The star wrote: “More sorrow and grief at the hands of madmen in London. Men and religion are worthless.”
While she very likely meant ‘men of religion’, that was not how many men took it, with plenty replying to set her straight on the value of men.
More sorrow and grief at the hands of madmen in London. Men and religion are worthless.
@BetteMidler Cheers for that. You can remove me as a (useless) male fan then. Women ALSO commit atrocities too you know. Google Myra Hindley & Rose West
More sorrow and grief at the hands of madmen in London. Men and religion are worthless.
@BetteMidler What a stupid thing to say. Men were saving people last night. Shame on you for writing something so flippant.
@BetteMidler Does that include us veterans?
@exjon @BetteMidler It shouldn’t include every man or every religion. That’s a broad generalization that actually upsets me a lot. I love the men in my life.
@BetteMidler When did men become worthless?
@BetteMidler That’s a slap in the face to the men that fight to keep our country safe. (Women do too)
But Bette wasn’t the only celebrity copping social media fire for their take on the London tragedy. Will I Am, the singer from the Black Eyed Peas, was mocked on Twitter for apparently confusing Manchester with London during his performance at the One Love concert in Manchester on Saturday night in honour of the victims of the suicide bombing in the northern city earlier this month.
Does Will I Am think Manchester is IN London????!
And US President Donald Trump was copping it for taking out of context a tweet by London Mayor Sadiq Kahn after the London attack.
A closer look at the original tweet by London Mayor @SadiqKhan and the Trump tweet attacking him is a little flabbergasting
Although Khan declined to respond to Trump, saying he had better things to do, it’s not the first time the US president and his family appear to have deliberately misused Khan’s words.
Following the terror attack in London’s Westminster in March, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr claimed that Khan, a London-born Muslim, had said that terror attacks “are part and parcel of living in a big city”. What Khan actually said was that preparing for terror attacks was part and parcel of living in a big city.
His full comment was: “Part and parcel of living in a great global city is you’ve got to be prepared for these things, you’ve got to be vigilant, you’ve got to support the police doing an incredibly hard job. We must never accept terrorists being successful, we must never accept that terrorists can destroy our life or destroy the way we lead our lives.”
Harry Potter author and keen tweeter JK Rowling was quick to respond to the president’s latest attack on London’s popular mayor.
It’s called ‘leadership’, Donald. The terrorists were dead 8 minutes after police got the call. If we need an alarmist blowhard, we’ll call. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/871328428963901440 …
I can’t be sure, but I think Miss Midler was paraphrasing Scripture: If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
To those of you who suddenly dislike, defame, or worse, I would request you take a step back first. Please. I sincerely think you’re taking her comments WAY OUT OF CONTEXT. I don’t think we’re getting the full statement. First off, Bette is a lover NOT a hater! Shame on those of you who considered yourself a fan that jumped ship! Try the sentence in the following context. – With so much violence going on, it MAY seem that all the men and religion aren’t enough to change the messed-up thoughts and thought processes inside the head of someone hell bent on destruction. It’s going to take a tremendous amount of effort to build a strong enough foundation for us all to stand on in our retaliation to such sadness. You cannot undo the harm done. It’s going to take everyone standing together on a united front standing up for PEACE to make change happen. It’s going to take your hope, belief, religion, lots of prayer, your man, your woman, strength, each and every one of us has a part to do! Try rephrasing “Men and religion are worthless.” By adding the word “alone” making the statement more of a plea and call to/for everyone. After all, so many of us have been in the position where our very own words have been taken out of context and totally misunderstood. Give Bette a better stage of understanding! We all have to believe! Please and thank you.
Most certainly possible. I cannot speak for her but can and will absolutely speak my own mind when I feel she’s been unjustly attacked as in this case.
Thank you for your version.
I defensive of Miss Midler, do you need to jump on her for making a little mistake, lets not be so touchy, we have more things to worry about Margaret NY