Cher wants Wendy Williams sacked for her insensitive comment on Joaquin Phoenix's 'cleft lip'
After Wendy Williams was forced to apologize following the backlash that her insensitive comments about Joaquin Phoenix's appearance generated online, Cher went on a rant on Twitter saying that she did not accept the talk show host's apology.
All hell broke loose when Williams brought up Phoenix during the latest episode of 'The Wendy Williams Show.' While she began by saying that she found the Academy Award winner "oddly attractive," she soon made to a not-so-appropriate comment when she started talking about his facial scar that some have speculated stems from a cleft lip.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both a cleft lip and a cleft palate "are birth defects that occur when a baby's lip or mouth do not form properly during pregnancy. Together, these birth defects commonly are called 'orofacial clefts.'"
The actor has never clarified whether he had a cleft lip or palate. In an October Vanity Fair profile, it was reported that his lip scar was "not a surgically fixed cleft, he says, but a nonsurgical scar he was born with."
Mocking him as she held her hand to pull her own lip, Williams said: “When he shaves off his mustache he’s got a hairline fracture. He’s got one of those — what do you call it — cleft lip, cleft palate,” Williams continued, using her hand to pull up her own lip. “He’s got this. I find it to be very attractive.”
After facing a barrage of hate tweets, Williams apologized, adding that her show was donating to both Operation Smile and the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.
However, Cher said that she was not ready to accept her apology in a series of angry tweets. "APOLOGIZED THERE IS NO APOLOGY FOR WHAT SHE DID…. & LAUGHED ABOUT I KNOW THESE CHILDREN,& ADULTS. THEY GO THROUGH HELL, THEIR PARENTS GO THROUGH HELL Fk Her Apology. SHE WANTS TO KEEP HER JOB I CANT CONTAIN MY ANGER" she said.
She added in another tweet: "I Was Going To Try & Hold My Temper BUT IM SO F-NG ANGRY I CANT. In 1985 I Made a Film Called 'MASK' THROUGH THAT FILM I BECAME INVOLVED WITH CHILDREN,& ADULTS WHO HAD CRANIOFACIAL ANOMALIES. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THESE PPL GO THROUGH 20+ OPERATIONS BEFORE THEIR TEENS MUCH OF THE TIME THEY ARE IN PAIN, AFRAID, BUT HAVE HOPE THEY WILL LOOK NORMAL. THE (heartbreak) & FEAR THEIR PARENTS GO THROUGH IS UNBEARABLE. IF YOUR MOM SAW WHAT YOU DID SHE’D BE ASHAMED. MY MOM TAUGHT ME TO LOVE & HELP PPL IN PAIN. WHO ARE U. U SHOULD B FIRED"
The iconic singer also posted a collage of pictures composed by one of fans, showing Cher posing with a number of children suffering from cleft lips.