Gay icon, Bette Midler has apologised and deleted a tweet in which she used the “n-word”.
Bette Midler has apologised after calling women “the n-word of the world”, in a politically charged tweet following a “too brief investigation of allegations against Kavanaugh”.
Ms Midler is well-known for her shrewd observations on women’s and human rights and uses Twitter as her forum.
In a tweet in which she criticised the “too brief” investigation into Brett Kavanaugh, Midler likened the treatment of women to enslaved African Americans. According to HuffPost, the ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ singer had written,
“Women are the n-word of the world, 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.”
In an apology, Midler wrote,
“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,
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. I am an ally and stand with you; always have. And I apologize.
— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) October 5, 2018
“I am an ally and stand with you; always have. And I apologize.”
The tweet received a backlash from social media users according to The Hollywood Reporter. The tweet remained on her account for up to three hours.
Reacting initally, Midler explained, in another, now deleted tweet,
“I gather I have offended many by my last tweet. ‘Women are the…etc.’ is a quote from Yoko Ono from 1972, which I never forgot,
“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.”
