Barbra Streisand Swears She Was Trying to Compliment Melissa McCarthy by Asking 'Did You Take Ozempic?'
Jon Blistein
TV & Movies News
McCarthy did not seem to mind, responding, "She thought I looked good! I win the day"

Barbra Streisand has apologized after getting a harsh reminder that public comments on someone’s Instagram are not, uh, private direct messages.

The 82-year-old icon was caught in the comments of a recent Melissa McCarthy Instagram post asking the actress, “did you take Ozempic?” Actually, the full comment is even better, lacking all punctuation, besides the final question mark at the end, and exhibiting a short but profound stream of consciousness writing style. The photo was of McCarthy and director Adam Shankman en route to a charity gala, and, in full, Babs wrote, “Give him my regards did you take Ozempic?”

Like clockwork, the post was picked up by the popular IG aggregator, CommentsByCelebs — designed exactly for moments like this — and quickly went viral. That forced Streisand to issue an apology on social media — a post that was just as glorious, in its own way, as the one that got her into this mess.

First, it began the way you hope all posts from octogenarians begin, with an “OMG,” followed by a kinda curious and circuitous explanation: All this started, because she’d logged onto Instagram to “see the photos we’d posted of the beautiful flowers I’d received for my birthday.” (One would assume those same pictures are also in a photo album on Streisand’s phone, so why not look at them there? Either way, the flowers are, indeed, beautiful and plentiful.)

Streisand continued: “Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy who I sang with on my Encore album.” It’s true — the two joined forces for a duet of Irving Berlin’s “Anything You Can Do” from Annie Get Your Gun. And Streisand was so delighted to see a new photo of her friend, she just had to say something.

“She looked fantastic!” Streisand wrote. “I just wanted to pay her a compliment. I forgot the world is reading!”

We obviously do not doubt Streisand was sincerely mortified by the incident, and credit to her for owning up to the goof. And while, yes, she deleted the comment, it doesn’t appear like she’s embarked on a crusade to remove all reference of it from the web, thus drawing more attention to it (we think there’s a name for that, but it’s escaping us right now). All that said, we’re still not totally convinced “did you take Ozempic?” is a compliment, but McCarthy did not seem to mind at all when she responded on Instagram. Trending Cassie's Husband to Diddy After Assault Video: 'Men Who Hurt Women Hate Women' Sean Combs Seen Kicking and Dragging Cassie on Surveillance Video Emmy Russell Seeks 'Redemption' on First Post-'American Idol' Single Marjorie Taylor Greene Has Been Obsessed With AOC for Years

In a video, McCarthy held up a copy of a magazine titled, Barbra: Celebrating an Icon, and quipped: “The takeaway, Barbra Streisand knows I exist. She reached out to me, and she thought I looked good! I win the day.”

This story was updated 5/1/24 @ 1:23 p.m. ET with Melissa McCarthy’s response.
McCarthy did not seem to mind, responding, "She thought I looked good! I win the day"
Barbra Streisand has apologized after getting a harsh reminder that public comments on someone’s Instagram are not, uh, private direct messages. The 82-year-old icon was caught in the comments of a recent Melissa McCarthy Instagram post asking the actress, “did you take Ozempic?” Actually, the full comment is even better, lacking all punctuation, besides the final question mark at the end, and exhibiting a short but profound stream of consciousness writing style. The photo was of McCarthy and director Adam Shankman en route to a charity gala, and, in full, Babs wrote, “Give him my regards did you take Ozempic?” Like clockwork, the post was picked up by the popular IG aggregator, CommentsByCelebs — designed exactly for moments like this — and quickly went viral. That forced Streisand to issue an apology on social media — a post that was just as glorious, in its own way, as the one that got her into this mess. First, it began the way you hope all posts from octogenarians begin, with an “OMG,” followed by a kinda curious and circuitous explanation: All this started, because she’d logged onto Instagram to “see the photos we’d posted of the beautiful flowers I’d received for my birthday.” (One would assume those same pictures are also in a photo album on Streisand’s phone, so why not look at them there? Either way, the flowers are, indeed, beautiful and plentiful.) Streisand continued: “Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy who I sang with on my Encore album.” It’s true — the two joined forces for a duet of Irving Berlin’s “Anything You Can Do” from Annie Get Your Gun. And Streisand was so delighted to see a new photo of her friend, she just had to say something. “She looked fantastic!” Streisand wrote. “I just wanted to pay her a compliment. I forgot the world is reading!” We obviously do not doubt Streisand was sincerely mortified by the incident, and credit to her for owning up to the goof. And while, yes, she deleted the comment, it doesn’t appear like she’s embarked on a crusade to remove all reference of it from the web, thus drawing more attention to it (we think there’s a name for that, but it’s escaping us right now). All that said, we’re still not totally convinced “did you take Ozempic?” is a compliment, but McCarthy did not seem to mind at all when she responded on Instagram. Trending Cassie's Husband to Diddy After Assault Video: 'Men Who Hurt Women Hate Women' Sean Combs Seen Kicking and Dragging Cassie on Surveillance Video Emmy Russell Seeks 'Redemption' on First Post-'American Idol' Single Marjorie Taylor Greene Has Been Obsessed With AOC for Years In a video, McCarthy held up a copy of a magazine titled, Barbra: Celebrating an Icon, and quipped: “The takeaway, Barbra Streisand knows I exist. She reached out to me, and she thought I looked good! I win the day.” This story was updated 5/1/24 @ 1:23 p.m. ET with Melissa McCarthy’s response.