Kennedy Center Honors With Bette Midler Flops, Hits New Ratings Low With Only 4.1 Million Viewers
Hollywood star Bette Midler got an unmistakable message from the American public when she looked at the ratings for her big night at the Kennedy Center Honors.
CBS broadcast the show which honored Midler and others including Lorne Michaels from Saturday Night Live Wednesday. Bad timing because Midler was in the news for insulting the good people of West Virginia calling them “poor, illiterate and strung out.”
And the people stayed away as the ratings for the Kennedy Center Honors featuring Midler collapsed and hit a new low (not including last year’s pandemic-delayed special).
According to TVline: In the latest TV show ratings, a holiday edition of CBS’ The Price Is Right at Night drew Wednesday’s largest audience (4.9 million total viewers) while tying for the nightly demo with (with a 0.5 rating).
Leading out of that, the Kennedy Center Honors (4.1 mil/0.4) ticked up in the demo from this past June’s COVID-delayed ceremony, but is still shy of its last pre-pandemic outing (7 mil/0.6).
Midler said on Dec 20: “What #JoeManchin, who represents a population smaller than Brooklyn, has done to the rest of America, who wants to move forward, not backward, like his state, is horrible. He sold us out. He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out.”
She faced a massive backlash and apologized: “I apologize to the good people of WVA for my last outburst. I’m just seeing red; #JoeManchin and his whole family are a criminal enterprise. Is he really the best WV has to offer its own citizens? Surely there’s someone there who has the state’s interests at heart, not his own!”
Trump said: “Wacko Bette Midler said horrible things about the great people of West Virginia and Joe Manchin, but when I say much less offensive things about her, everybody goes wild. Don’t worry, I’ll tell the real facts about her in my book. I love you, West Virginia!”
She was mad at Joe Manchin for sinking Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill.
Manchin said: “This is not the president — this is staff. They drove some things, and they put some things out that were absolutely inexcusable. They know what it is, and that’s it.
“They figured surely to God we can move one person. We surely can badger and beat one person up. Surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough that they’ll just say, ‘OK I’ll vote for anything.
“Well, guess what?
“I’m from West Virginia.
“I’m not from where they’re from and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they’ll be submissive, period.”
.@POTUS45:
— Natalie Harp (@NatalieJHarp) December 23, 2021
"Wacko Bette Midler said horrible things about the great people of West Virginia and Joe Manchin, but when I say much less offensive things about her, everybody goes wild. Don’t worry, I’ll tell the real facts about her in my book. I love you, West Virginia!" pic.twitter.com/Fd1BRmYgex
What #JoeManchin, who represents a population smaller than Brooklyn, has done to the rest of America, who wants to move forward, not backward, like his state, is horrible. He sold us out. He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) December 20, 2021