In case you missed it, there was an election last week, and a lot of people feel strongly one way or the other about certain candidates. Politics aside, this is a lesson in being careful about how you phrase things.

Back in 2021, actress and singer Bette Midler turned to Twitter to complain about Joe Manchin. That’s fine. She has the right to state her opinion; however, many people were offended by what she said about everyone living in the state of West Virginia.

In Midler’s tweet, she said that America “wants to move forward, not backward like his state.” Did you catch that? Did she just call West Virginia “backward”? Hmmm. It gets worse.

Middler continued, and she completely blasted West Virginia in the process. She wrote, “He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out.” 

If we lived in West Virginia, we’d be offended by being called “poor, illiterate, and strung out,” and many West Virginia residents expressed that sentiment in the comments.

The tweet did not in fact “work well” for Midler. She later tweeted out an apology writing, “I apologize to the good people of WVA for my last outburst.” Then, she continued, focusing her complaint on Manchin this time and leaving West Virginians out of it.

While some people accepted her apology, other former fans were too hurt to recover.