Bette Midler apologizes for mocking Melania Trump’s accent, calling her ‘illegal alien’

Bette Midler first sparked backlash Tuesday night as Melania Trump closed out the second night of the Republican National Convention.

President Donald Trump slammed actor and singer Bette Midler on Twitter after she apologized for sharing a fake quote attributed to Trump.

USA TODAY

The outspoken actress, 74, first sparked backlash Tuesday night as Trump closed out the second night of the Republican National Convention with a speech from the newly renovated White House Rose Garden.

« Oh, God. She still, can’t speak English, » Midler tweeted, referring to Trump, who immigrated to the U.S. from Slovenia.

Trump is the second first lady in history born outside of the U.S. and the only first lady to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, according to whitehouse.gov. The first lady can speak six languages, according to CNN, including Slovenian (her native language), French, Serbian, German, Italian and English.

Midler doubled down in another tweet: « #beBest is back! A UGE bore! She can speak several words in a few languages. Get that illegal alien off the stage! »Â 

Midler’s remarks were instantly slammed as « xenophobic, » which is defined by Cambridge Dictionary as « showing an extreme dislike or fear of people from foreign countries. »Â 

« Bette! I love you but that was quite offensive. Please retract it, » tweeted @lajenniferhart. « You are so much better than making fun of someone’s foreign language skills… I certainly felt your xenophobic insult in my multilingual soul. Let’s be better together. »

While some social media users drew comparisons to President Donald Trump’s rhetoric, others reaffirmed that wrong is wrong regardless of political affiliations.

@AshleePaua added: « I’m pissed at Bette Midler for being xenophobic period. I absolutely do NOT like Melania but you don’t have to make fun of her english to get the point across. Having double standards for intolerance and xenophobia could be a very dangerous thing. »

Bette Midler in New York City on Oct. 16, 2018. (Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Michael Kors)

Although Midler hasn’t deleted the controversial tweets, the actress walked back her comments on Wednesday and offered an apology to Trump and anyone she offended.

« Well, all hell has broken loose because I said Melania ‘still can’t speak English’ last night, » she tweeted. « 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. »

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.

This is not the first time a tweet about the first lady has landed Midler in hot water.

In Nov. 2018, the Oscar-nominated actress/singer caused waves when she shared a NSFW photo of Melania Trump from a steamy shoot with British GQ in 2000.

In June 2019, the president called Midler a « washed up psycho »Â and a « sick scammer »Â after she apologized for sharing a fake quote attributed to him in the late 1990s. 

A month later in July 2019, Midler caught more flak for suggesting that President Trump paid African American supporters to add « blackground » to his rally. 

« Look, there are African American men in this shot! How much did he pay them to be ‘blackground’? »Â Midler tweeted, alongside a photo of a group of black men standing in the crowd behind Trump during one of his reelection rallies. (The tweet has since been deleted.)

SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com