Comedian Norm Macdonald called out singer and actress Bette Midler for her tweet earlier this week attempting to shame the woman who accused former Sen. Al Franken of sexual misconduct.
On Monday, Midler shamed Leeann Tweeden, Franken’s accuser. In a tweet, the legendary performer suggested Tweeden was “right wing” and forced Franken to resign over allegations of mere “untoward” conduct.
“#LeeAnnTweeden, #AlFrankens accuser, in all her right wing glory. Al was forced to resign, without anything resembling due process, amid HER allegations that something ‘untoward’ happened between them,” Midler tweeted.
Midler included a picture of her tweet of Tweeden wearing lingerie, a common slut-shaming technique.
On Thursday, Macdonald shredded Midler for doing what “rape apologists” do and reminding the singer that the #MeToo movement “has nothing to do with due process.”
“Bette, if you haven’t heard, #metoo has nothing to do with due process. But you putting a picture of this women in lingerie, implying she had it coming, is truly disgusting and what rape apologists have been saying forever. Shame,” Macdonald tweeted.
It is not the first time Macdonald has waded into controversial territory in expressing his opinion on the #MeToo movement. In September, the comedian was booted from the “Tonight Show” after he criticized the movement, which called out some well-known men who sexually abused women but also resulted in accusations of mere jerkiness being elevated to similar stature. Throughout the entire episode, men were found guilty in the court of public opinion and saw their careers hampered or ruined without being given the opportunity to defend themselves.
In an interview in September, Macdonald said he was “happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a bit.”
“It used to be, ‘One hundred women can’t be lying.’ And then it became, ‘One woman can’t lie.’ And that became, ‘I believe all women.’ And then you’re like, ‘What?’ Like, that Chris Hardwick guy I really thought got the blunt end of the stick there,” Macdonald added.
Hardwick was anonymously accused of emotional and sexual abuse by his ex-girlfriend, Chloe Dykstra. As a result of the article Dykstra published on Medium, Hardwick was suspended from his show, “Talking with Chris Hardwick” and “Talking Dead.” The Nerdist, which Hardwick founded, removed mention of him from its website.
Hardwick denied Dykstra’s allegations and multiple former girlfriends, as well as his wife, denied that he ever acted so abusively. Others brought up examples of him behaving like a jerk in an effort to corroborate Dykstra’s claims. About a month later, after AMC conducted an investigation into Dykstra’s allegations, the network reinstated Hardwick. Dykstra claimed she didn’t participate in the investigation and said she only wrote the essay to “move on” and wasn’t looking for “an eye for an eye,” even though her essay was published in a well-known outlet.
Macdonald went on in that interview to defend Roseanne Barr and Louis C.K., mentioning that “very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day.” He added: “Of course, people will go, ‘What about the victims?’ But you know what? The victims didn’t have to go through that.”
For his criticism, Macdonald was booted from the “Tonight Show.” So far he does not appear to have received backlash for calling out Bette Midler.
Macdonald also commented on Midler’s tweet claiming black supporters of President Donald Trump must have been paid to appear at one of his rallies.
“Oh, Christ. Bette’s a racist, too. Fuckxk,” Macdonald tweeted.