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Once when I was a little girl we were at a family reunion of sorts, and a distant cousin tried to compliment my parents on my cherubic beauty (I was adorable as a child). Only, what she ended up saying to my parents was, “I can’t believe you two have such a pretty kid!” Well, Barbra Streisand has just made a similar faux pas; only instead of blurting out an inelegant sentence at a private function, she typed it out on Instagram for the world to see. Babs commented on a pic Melissa McCarthy — probably the nicest person in show business! — posted of herself, and while the sentiment intended was, “You look great!” What Babs actually wrote was, “Did you take Ozempic?” Oy and Vey.
Barbra Streisand came under fire when she bluntly asked Melissa McCarthy in an Instagram comment whether she had used Ozempic to lose weight.
The “Bridesmaids” star, 53, shared a carousel of images of her and choreographer Adam Shankman outside the Centre Theatre Group Gala in which she wore a pastel green blazer over a similarly colored dress that featured plenty of tulle.
“Pastels only to honor the incredible @matthewbourne13 at the @ctgala last night with this fella @adamshankman !! Thiiiiis much closer to my dream of dancing on stage ,” she captioned the post Monday.
The “Funny Girl” star, 82, responded in the comments, “Give him my regards did you take Ozempic?”
Streisand ultimately deleted her question — but not before users could weigh in with commentary of their own.
“Babs. No, honey. Just no,” responded one follower.
“Major boomer aunt with wine and ipad energy,” quipped another.
“Babs typing away on IG like my elderly mom telling me she text someone something, and me explaining:
‘No, mom, you wrote it on FB on your wall for all to see ,’” added a third.
However, others defended Streisand from the criticism, noting she would likely “never” try to embarrass McCarthy.
“I believe she meant that for a private reason. Cant any of you show her some grace !!” wrote a Streisand devotee.
“Babs in 82 kinda par for the course, old people do not know how s–t works nor do they give a fk,” added another.
This may be nitpicky and/or irrelevant, but I truly despair for the state of punctuation in the world today. And in fact it’s punctuation, or the lack thereof, that makes Barbra’s comment seem even more callous. There’s no separation between “Give my regards to the boys,” and “No really, are you on Ozempic??” It reads like she can’t finish with the pleasantries fast enough in order to get to her real, burning question! But even worse than the absence of helpful punctuation, is that Babs missed a golden opportunity to make a quip only she could slay with (and it’s happened before, just ask Stephen Colbert). Now think about it: you’re Barbra Streisand and you want to tell a friend she’s lookin’ good. What is the perfect comment? “Hello Gorgeous!”
Anyway, while Babs deleted her original comment she did post this to her Instagram Stories later in the day:
“OMG — I went on Instagram to see the photos we’d posted of the beautiful flowers I’d received for my birthday!” Streisand began in a statement shared to her Instagram Story on Tuesday.
“Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy who I sang with on my Encore album,” she continued. “She looked fantastic! I just wanted to pay her a compliment. I forgot the world is reading!”
Yeah, I buy that Barbra legitimately forgot her comment would be public. I’m also laughing at how Barbra managed to work in a mention of her beautiful birthday flowers, in a post that perhaps should have focused more on Melissa? And speaking of, Melissa was not offended in the slightest by Barbra’s gaffe. Either that, or she had thoroughly rehearsed her response for TMZ’s cameramen when they caught up with her on Tuesday. She made a pshaw! gesture and simply said, “I think Barbra is a treasure — and I love her.” Melissa McCarthy: a real class act, wrapped in the spirit of a comedian.
Barbra Streisand’s comment on Melissa McCarthy’e post has me on the floor. pic.twitter.com/28P1mbFZ0E
— Anthony Dominic (@alloveranthony) April 30, 2024
photos credit: IMAGO/MediaPunch/Jennifer Bloc/Avalon, Getty images for Netflix via Netflix press