Barbra Streisand is facing backlash after she left a pretty awkward comment on Melissa McCarthy’s latest Instagram post.
On Monday, Melissa shared a photo of herself with director Adam Shankman at a gala in Los Angeles. Everything about the photo and its caption were relatively normal — but a quick gander at the post’s comments revealed a bizarre remark from the legendary singer and Yentl director, who is friends with the Bridesmaids star.
“Give him my regards,” Barbra said of Adam, before taking a weird pivot by asking Melissa: “Did you take Ozempic?”
The remark, which has since been deleted, was captured by the Comments by Celebs Instagram account, however.
People on X, formerly Twitter, had mixed reactions to the comment. Some found it offensive while others thought maybe Babs meant to send that sentiment via DM and accidentally posted it publicly.
One person even made a joke about the Streisand effect, a term the EGOT winner inspired, which describes instances in which high-profile people unintentionally draw more attention to information they’d wanted to keep quiet when they try to wipe it from the public domain.
On Tuesday, Barbra responded to the fiasco in a statement posted to her social media accounts.
“OMG,” she began her statement. “I went on Instagram to see the beautiful flowers I’d received for my birthday! Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy that I sang with on my Encore album. She looked fantastic! I just wanted to pay her a compliment. I forgot the world was reading!”
HuffPost reached out to Melissa’s team for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
She was later quoted by TMZ as saying: “I think Barbra is a treasure and I love her.”