Liza Minnelli, for reasons we may never truly understand, was the accidental star of the 2014 Academy Awards.
She was everywhere: posing in her royal blue satin off-the-shoulder suit, just missing out on the most famous selfie of all time, hugging Lupita Nyong’o directly after her win even though we don’t think they’ve met.
And host Ellen DeGeneres even made a joke at her expense in her opening monologue. A joke that was, let’s just say, not very well received on the interwebs.
This is what she said: “Hello to the best Liza Minnelli impersonator I’ve ever seen. Good job, sir.”
As a result, Ellen’s been accused of “transphobia” for implying that Liza looked like a cross-dressing male.
Minelli, who is frequently impersonated by cross-dressers, looked annoyed when the camera cut to her. Others took to Twitter to express outrage over the comment, suggesting it was offensive to trans people.
Director Bruce LaBruce tweeted this:
Emily Aviva Kapor tweeted this about the jibe:
Liza herself has come out in response to the joke days later, saying: “I think it went a little stray on her. I don’t think she meant any harm at all, and I think she’s a wonderful lady. I think she thought it would be funny, but she never stopped after she said it to say ‘my friend, Liza Minnelli’.”
The pair appeared to be on good terms after the Oscars ceremony, as DeGeneres tweeted this picture of the pair together with the label “besties.”
What did you make of the joke? Funny or too far?
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Top Comments
WTF, can you not make any slip of the tongue nowadays without people labelling you racist/transphobic/misogynist. Ellen is far from transphobic and that was far from an over the top joke! With all the crap out there than comedians with a dark sense of humour make, THIS is the person we pick on? Get over yourselves for goodness sakes.
I feel like the joke isn't transphobic... it's in reference to drag queens. Drag queens are not transgender, they're performers and many of them perform as Liza. It's funny!