Bette Midler tossed a wrench into the notion that "there's no jealousy" among our favorite female entertainers as Lady Gaga claims, by tweeting that Gaga is appropriating her mermaid-in-a-wheelchair routine before deciding that there's room for both to "coexist" after all.
Gaga debuted the sea creature-alter ego she calls Yuyi while performing on France's Le Grand Journallast month. In addition, the original treatment for the singer's "Edge of Glory" video cast her as a mermaid before Gaga scrapped it for a lower-concept take on the song. Not to mention the blogosphere previously conjured up a feud between Gaga and Katy Perry over mermaid territorial rights, with Perry photographed in a mermaid costume on the set of an upcoming video. But it's Gaga, not Perry, who raised the ire of fellow icon Midler.
Midler, who incorporated the character into her concert act at least as far back as the 1980s, sent a series of tweets criticizing Gaga for the similarities over the weekend. On July 15, Midler wrote, "I’m not sure @ladygaga knows that I’ve performed my mermaid in a wheelchair for millions of people — and many of them are still alive ... "
The veteran entertainer followed with two tweets the next day that read, "Dear @ladygaga if you think a mermaid in a wheelchair seems familiar-it's because it is! You can see it on youtube 24/7-with ME performing it" and "Dear @ladygaga Ive been doing singing mermaid in a wheelchair since 1980-You can keep the meat dress and the firecracker tits-mermaid's mine."
Midler was forced to drop out of the HBO biopic on Phil Spector due to a herniated disk, and sent an earlier tweet saying she was in a "Percocet haze."
Perhaps Midler's haze subsided, for last night she tweeted, "let's drink this over at the Emmys in September. Fabulous mermaids can coexist!"
Or Maybe she just read The Advocate's recent profile of Gaga in which the younger icon states, “There’s no drama, there’s no jealousy, there’s no competition. They’re just happy to see other women winning.”
Who's your favorite mermaid in a wheelchair? Gaga? Midler? Watch video of both below.
