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Bette Midler sparks angry backlash with transphobic Caitlyn Jenner ‘joke’

By Will Stroude

She’s usually loved for her witty take downs of famous folk, but over the weekend fans of Bette Midler were left disappointed and angry after the icon cracked a transphobic joke at the expense of Caitlyn Jenner.

Referring to the recent cancellation of Jenner’s show I Am Cait, Bette Tweeted on Saturday (August 22), “Now that @IAmCait has been cancelled, will she go back to being Bruce?”.

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Olympic Gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner has been dogged by rumours that her transition was for publicity since she first came out at transgender. Considering the amount of mocking Caitlyn and the wider trans community face on a daily basis, its unsurprising that Midler’s wisecrack evoked more ire than amusement.

Trans activist Alexandra Billings wrote an impassioned response to Bette’s comments on the Huffington Post, highlighting how her words feed into a society which is especially hostile to trans people.

She wrote: “Our 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”.

Bette since apologised for her remarks, saying that she had “misread the temper of the times”.

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