Celebrity
Wendy Williams Mocks Joaquin Phoenix’s Cleft Lip And People Are Not Happy
This is bullying.
‘The Wendy Williams Show’ recently went quite under fire when the host decided to use what seemed like a harmless joke on Joaquin Phoenix’s appearance. The show was fine in the beginning, with Wendy making jokes here and there.
The hottest topic at the time was The Golden Globes 2020 which just happened.
Wendy was taking Beyoncé who notably did not rise to applause for Joaquin Phoenix’s standing ovation during Golden Globes 2020. She then proceeded to talk about the ‘Joker’ star and said, “In my universe, who is Joaquin Phoenix?”
He complimented the man and talked about his role as Johnny Cash. “I find him oddly attractive… It wasn’t Reese [Witherspoon] who kept me. It was him.” After that, he joked about his role as Joker, a role in which Joaquin Phoenix had extreme weight loss and gave DC Comics their first $1b worldwide earning.
She continued and said, “He knows how to transform. When he shaves this off, the way he looks at you…he’s got that good nose…”
But she decided to poke on the sensitive fact that is one of Phoenix’s flaws: his cleft lips. She said, “He’s got that what do you call it? Cleft lip. I find that to be very attractive.”
Well, damn. That is so not funny.
It might have been funny if the cleft lip was a cosmetic thing. But that wasn’t the case for the professional actor. This joke set fire on the Internet as people demand Wendy’s apologies for the joke and as to why the show allowed this to air.
People angrily shared why this joke isn’t funny to them.
End bullying indeed. These kinds of jokes shouldn’t be considered funny.
Wendy eventually apologized for the joke and added that the show is donating to the community.
Wendy Williams took to the Internet to share that they’ll be donating to Operation Smile and American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association to help the cleft community.
Cleft lip and palate condition is a birth defect that can be followed by hearing loss and speaking impairments. Depending on the severity, surgical procedures can help to minimize the scar and help babies to feed properly. Speech impairment can be helped through therapies.
In some severe cases, babies can be born with horribly deformed mouth and nose. Surgical procedures help minimize the effect, but it doesn’t completely revert it to a normal, symmetric shape.
