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Alexandra Billings schools Bette Midler for tweeting Caitlyn Jenner should ‘go back to being Bruce’
Bette Midler may have deleted her tweet joking about the cancellation of Caitlyn Jenner’s show and apologized for ‘misreading the temper of the times’ but that’s not near enough for transgender actress Alexandra Billings.
‘You are undoing what took us years to do and has cost us lives to finalize,’ Billings wrote in an open letter to Midler on Huffington Post.
Midler had tweeted to her more than 1 million followers on Saturday: ‘Now that I Am Cait has been cancelled, will she go back to being Bruce? Will Kris take him back? Do I smell a re-wedding?!’
Billings takes Midler to school for the tweet by writing: ‘I cannot take my Transness off, Ms. Midler, and it has taken me 54 years of survival through centuries of violence and suicides, to finally make friends with my past. And I will not be the butt of your jokes simply because you cannot take the time to write from a place of truth, instead of a place of fear.’
Billings, who plays the role of Davina on Transparent, goes on to accuse Midler of a ‘blatant disregard for the Trans experience and a glaring lack of compassion towards a people you do not know.’
‘Trans youth don’t live very long, Bette. And when they die, they do it with guns and ropes and pills and leaping off the edges of buildings. Giving their tormentors misinformation that already incites a sense of righteous indignation in them by suggesting they are merely in costume, is not only irresponsible, it is terribly cruel.’
Billings writes that it is appreciated that Midler quickly took down the tweet and apologized but she feels the multi-Grammy and Emmy winner needs to do more.
‘I believe there is a difference between an apology and an amend. One requires regret and the other requires ownership … It seems to me you might have some more diligence due. Look inward, Ms. Midler that has always been where your truest self lies.’
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
Ed Meiller says:
Bravo Bette!
Paul says:
Dear Ms Billings, I haven’t got a clue who you are . . . but, take a chill pill!
Jessie says:
Hey, Alexandra…how about getting a sense of humor? And shutting up.
Dwight Williamson says:
Bette Midler , is about as harmful to the LGBTQ as a feather. Bruce Jenner is supporting Donald Trump, and gives the appearance that he cares about no one but her self. I watched him win his decathlon so seeing him as Cait is a much larger reach , than it might be for others. I have yet to see him doing anything for charity, Bette has scoured the river banks for trash and debris , she is socially involved in making NYC and the boroughs a better place. Team Bette !
FAEN says:
I adore Bette but Ms Billings makes a valid and eloquent point.
Greg Hernandez says:
I’m posting your comment Dwight but FYI: It’s Caitlyn Jenner, not Bruce and ‘she’ not ‘he.’
Mike says:
Bette was making a commentary on the Kardashian’s love of publicity and the lengths they will go to get it. I think it was spot on.
Chip says:
Bette has always had a raw side to her comedy. It’s one thing to think she said something harmful to a community (I don’t think she did.) It’s something else entirely to not see the point of the humor behind this: when it all happened many thought AND joked that it was a big publicity stunt to make money and gain ratings. (I don’t think that either.)
The fact of the matter is that Jenner is worse for the community than someone’s attempt at humor and we are becoming somewhat oversensitive to humor, even humor in poor taste.
We need to grow up and worry about things that are dividing us all in reality and not just an easy to target for PC ramblings. I’m disappointed in Ms. Billings and those oversensitive types who couldn’t just point out poor taste or disagreement and move on but instead feel the need to push and push and push. (This enables people like Trump who can be accused of rape and all kinds of other improprieties and yet still gain a nomination to the highest office in the land.)
Kevin says:
I’m not sure who Billings is, but in this picture at least, she makes a better woman than Bruce does. Bruce seems to have outlived his usefulness to the transcommunity. I hoped he would be a proactive advocate, but supporting Trump is one of many missteps.
Sotzume says:
When Bette Midler gets called out as being transphobic for, in fact, a very spot on joke about the Kardashian fraudsters and publicity pigs, the world is surely topsy turvy. For Alexandra Billings to take the side of a Donald Trump supporter, who leads a political party with the most homo and trans phobic platform in AMERICAN HISTORY, is a travesty in itself. All this trans drama and high horse attitude against one of the the gay communities most supportive celebrity and friend is unseemly and unworthy of the serious issues still facing trans people and gay people. Bette Midler’s comment was funny period….it wasn’t transphobic, it wasn’t anti trans, it wasn’t offensive in any way, shape of form. Get over yourself madam Billings.
Dwight Williamson says:
I’ve been gay a long time. I don’t like Bruce Jenner and never will. The fact that he is so shallow and Kardashian involved is relevant. I understand PC statements and although I don’t personally have transgender friends , except in this instance, I support them all and wish them a happy life. This is my second comment on your blog , if you choose to make it my last so be it. I won’t hold it against you ! Shouldn’t you chastise Kevin as well ?
Cool Curt says:
I love Bette, I love Caitlyn but I must say when someone is down it’s horrible to kick them even further down. You must know that before Bette became the Hollywood A-list-er she is, she was performing in bathhouses and many if not must of the people that would adore and love her would end up tragically dying in one of America’s most tragic and senseless ‘genocide’ of the late 70’s and 80’s which was called : “Gay Man’s Cancer”. It would later be called out to be: ‘AIDS’ and ‘HIV’ and so many beautiful and talented men and few women were dying in numbers that are staggering to even grasp.
As much as Bette has been so good and genuine to her LGTBQ fans, to grab some headlines and to throw some shade on Caitlyn, who has been one of many of ‘The Prom Queens’ of the LGTBQ community makes me a bit upset with her because I do love me some Bette.
However, Bette has had her time to really leave a dent in the hearts of many on this planet and still there is so much life in this woman. Now Caitlyn allegedly kept her life a bit private and didn’t come out until she was ready but now she is out and of course there are some that don’t like it or get it and always asking: “Why Now????” Which there has been too many people on this planet that have came full-circle in their lives publicly like Caitlyn. Whether anyone wants to believe it or not but I don’t think Caitlyn was looking for ratings because she could have stayed trapped in that life and allow everyone to speculate or assume for some time but she came out as her ‘true-authentic-self’ and flipped the world upside down. Many have some issues with her politically party and I’m not the biggest fan of that but I should someone’s politics make them enemy #1????
Many have this issues that Caitlyn should have came out with her ‘real tea’ in the height of her Olympic reign and not waiting so late.
Bette I know many feel that this world is becoming so sensitive and so ‘PC’ but it makes sense because there are people being killed, hurt and even hurting and killing themselves over issues concerning this subject matter. Trans People are not just under a microscope by the entire world (especially Caitlyn) for them allegedly ‘altering’ God’s creation but it easier for someone to find a ‘bull’s eyes’ right on a Trans Person’s back for nothing or for something of this magnitude, which isn’t that bad.
A Trans-inspired cake (a transgender Ken and Barbie cake) would receive some of the nastiest comments on Facebook to date but some of them would be ‘those kind of comments’ that the CIA and FBI should look into.