Frequent Trump White House critic actress/singer Bette Midler said she went too far in mocking Melania Trump’s accent this week, and apologizing for a tweet in which she called the former model an “illegal alien.”
The Grammy, Emmy and Tony-winning star — who has made a second career of posting biting tweets attacking Pres. Trump’s policies and public statements multiple times a day for the past three years — dropped several especially barbed comments about the Slovenia-born First Lady’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, Midler walked things back a bit, tweeting, “Well, all hell has broken loose because I said Melania ‘still can’t speak English’ last night. I was wrong to make fun of her accent. America is made up people who speak with all kinds of accents, and they are all welcomed always.”
“#beBest is back! A UGE bore!” Midler tweeted during the First Lady’s speech from the remodeled White House Rose Garden on Tuesday, referencing Mrs. Trump’s signature anti-bullying campaign catchphrase. “She can speak several words in a few languages,” Midler continued alongside another tweet in which she described Melania as an “awful” woman. “Get that illegal alien off the stage.”
Midler continued lambasting the First Lady, saying she “lacks warmth so severely that I just had to turn my AC down,” in addition to other harsh comments after a speech in which Melania attempted to inject some sympathy for those suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic and racial strife during a convention in which many speakers painted a grim, dystopian future if Trump isn’t re-elected.
Melania Trump, 50, moved to the U.S. in 1996 and married Trump, 74, in 2005, obtaining her U.S. citizenship a year later. She is the first First Lady who is a naturalized citizen and whose native language is not English.
See Midler’s apology and her original tweets below.
Well, all hell has broken loose because I said Melania “still can’t speak English” last night. I was wrong to make fun of her accent. America is made up people who speak with all kinds of accents, and they are all welcomed always.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) August 26, 2020
#beBest is back! A UGE bore! She can speak several words in a few languages. Get that illegal alien off the stage!
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) August 26, 2020
#Melania took all the color out of the #RoseGarden but Don tried his utmost to bring some back with that greasy bronzer!
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) August 26, 2020
Why are they promoting this awful person, #melania? Was it in her contract? She says it feels like just yesterday they were at their first convention. Maybe to you, Mel. For the rest of us every day has been a horrible slog thru the 9th Circle of Hell. #beBust
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) August 26, 2020
Oh, God. She still can’t speak English.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) August 26, 2020
I’m surprised Trump wants to destroy the #PostOffice. He got all his wives from it.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) August 26, 2020
Melania lacks warmth so severely that I just had to turn my AC down.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) August 26, 2020
Anodyne, anodyne, nothing but simple minded pablum. “I have to remind myself that I am very lucky.” I completely agree! You are one lucky Slovenian! And after all that surgery, you hit a kind of horrible jackpot, chained to an colossal idiot.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) August 26, 2020