Barbra Streisand goes viral for thinly-veiled dig at Wicked and Ariana Grande
Barbra Streisand went viral on Tuesday for making a thinly-veiled dig at Wicked, the hit big-screen adaptation of the 2003 Broadway musical starring her upcoming duet partner Ariana Grande.
'I showed it to my grandchildren,' the 83-year-old EGOT champ told the Just for Variety podcast on Monday. 'They loved Wicked.'
When asked again directly if she enjoyed Wicked, Barbra avoided expressing her opinion but offered:
'I was just watching their reaction and they were totally fine with the witches. I was surprised. A four- and a six-year-old, you know?'
At that, X user @TomZohar mocked up a movie poster topped by Streisand's unenthused pull quote 'totally fine' along with the caption: 'Wicked's marketing team after reading this interview.'
X user @HeyBuckHey tweeted a meme of Aretha Franklin similarly responding to the Wall Street Journal in 2014 about how she felt about Taylor Swift: 'Great gowns. Beautiful gowns.'
'Honestly the funnier part to me is the implication that children wouldn't be okay with/enamored by witches and magic,' X user @BenWambeke tweeted.
'As if Harry Potter, Frozen etc never existed LOL!'
X user @norabird gushed: 'God she's perfect!'
'I love her,' X user @kikiballchange agreed.
The Brooklyn-born grandmother-of-four enlisted the 31-year-old pop star's four-octave soprano pipes as well as Mariah Carey's five-octave soprano pipes to help her sing One Heart, One Voice on her 37th studio album The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two, dropping this Friday.
'They're the hottest, biggest, most wonderful voices. And they both said yes to join me,' Barbra gushed of Ariana and the 56-year-old R&B diva who collaborated on a Yes, And? remix last year.
'They brought me people that were just superb. Everyone was different and yet marvelous.'
Streisand's collection of duets also features Hozier, Paul McCartney, Sam Smith, Bob Dylan, Laufey, Tim McGraw, James Taylor, Sting, Josh Groban, and Seal.
It marked Grande's (born Butera) third time performing with Carey, who hired her and Jennifer Hudson to appear in her Apple TV+ Magical Christmas Special in 2020.
'Honestly the funnier part to me is the implication that children wouldn't be okay with/enamored by witches and magic,' X user @BenWambeke tweeted. 'As if Harry Potter, Frozen etc never existed LOL!'
On May 30, the two-time Grammy winner was cast as Henry Focker's ball-busting fiancée in John Hamburg's untitled fourth Meet the Parents movie already scheduled to hit US theaters November 25, 2026.
Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, and Owen Wilson have all signed on to reprise their roles in the Universal Pictures comedy.
But don't expect the Yentl director-star to reprise her part as frizzy-haired matriarch Roz Focker from Meet the Fockers in 2004 as 'They'd have to pay me a lot of money.'
'I didn't get paid what the other people got paid and so I'm pi**ed off,' Barbra scoffed.
'I was in the time when women were getting paid less than the men. The head of Universal was Ron Meyer at the time, and he actually sent me a bonus check. It was very sweet.'
The prior three Meet the Parents films, spanning 2000-2010, amassed a combined $1.1B at the global box office.
Meanwhile, Streisand - whose memoir My Name Is Barbra was published in 2023 - is currently in production on a multi-part documentary about her life directed by Frank Marshall.
It marked Grande's (born Butera) third time performing with Carey, who hired her and Jennifer Hudson (L) to appear in her Apple TV+ Magical Christmas Special in 2020
July 1 will mark the 29th anniversary of the Love Will Survive singer and second husband James Brolin's first blind date after they were set up by a mutual friend following his 1995 divorce from second ex-wife Jan Smithers and her 1971 divorce from ex-husband Elliot Gould.
The 84-year-old Emmy winner had to ask for Barbra's hand in marriage three times before she agreed, and they reportedly did not have sex until their wedding night.
Streisand has sold over 150M records worldwide and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 five times throughout her six-decade career.
Fans can catch more of Ariana as the Good Witch of the South Galinda Upland in Jon M. Chu's $150M-budget sequel Wicked: For Good, which hits US/UK theaters on November 21.
The first fantasy flick received critical acclaim and amassed $756M at the global box office.
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