Morgantown, West Virginia – Moderately-talented singer-songwriter who was last relevant in the 1980s, Bette Midler, 76, decided to give her overgeneralized, unsolicited opinion on the great state of West Virginia yesterday.
In response to Senator Joe Manchin’s refusal to support the Build Better Back bill, Midler had the following to say about West Virginia: “What Joe Manchin, who represents a population smaller than Brooklyn, has done to the rest of America, who wants to move forward, not backward, like his state, is horrible. He sold us out.
He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out.”
What #JoeManchin, who represents a population smaller than Brooklyn, has done to the rest of America, who wants to move forward, not backward, like his state, is horrible. He sold us out. He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) December 20, 2021
Midler, who has likely never spent significant time in West Virginia, made a sweeping, ill-informed scrutiny on an entire state and its people to show her disapproval of a bill, that, again, she almost certainly has little knowledge about the fine details of.
Midler’s decision to send out a tweet to her over 2 million followers added fuel to the truly backward, inaccurate, ugly portrayal that West Virginians have faced for so long.
Celebrities giving their uninformed opinions and thoughts on important political issues is both dangerous and unwanted by the majority of the population, and Midler’s unfortunate remarks were flat-out painful to the 1.8 million people – and countless others who have moved from the state – who calls West Virginia home.
To her credit, Midler “apologized” for her remarks, saying, “I apologize to the good people of West Virginia for my last outburst. I’m just seeing red. Joe Manchin and his whole family are a criminal enterprise. Is he really the best West Virginia has to offer its own citizens? Surely there’s someone there who has the state’s interests at heart, not his own!”
However, the damage has been done. Another unfortunate portrayal of West Virginia and its fine people has been regurgitated for the whole world to see. Thanks, Bette.
I apologize to the good people of WVA for my last outburst. I’m just seeing red; #JoeManchin and his whole family are a criminal enterprise. Is he really the best WV has to offer its own citizens? Surely there’s someone there who has the state’s interests at heart, not his own!
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) December 20, 2021
