Celebs Who Can't Stand Melania Trump
When Melania Trump left the White House with exiting President Donald Trump in January 2021, she spoke to the crowd at Joint Base Andrews about the privilege of her role. "Being your first lady was my greatest honor. Thank you for your love and support," she said, according to USA Today. "You will be in my thoughts and prayers. God bless you all, God bless your families and God bless this beautiful nation."
It was a beautiful parting message, but Melania's time in the White House was arguably more fractious than her exit might suggest. Her famous jacket debacle, where she wore a Zara coat reading, "I Really Don't Care. Do U?," had Trump himself, along with the rest of the nation, both confused and angry. By all accounts, Melania didn't want to be in the White House. She stalled considerably when Trump was first elected, staying in New York with their son, Barron Trump, and allegedly wants nothing to do with a potential presidential run in 2024.
Much of the reason for her aversion to politics comes from her private nature and, as we know by now, a life in politics means a life in the spotlight. This also means that any controversial decision gets major publicity and falls under heavy scrutiny. Melania simply values her privacy too much to go through it again. With all this furor, it's unsurprising that Melania has made the blacklist for more than one celeb.
Chrissy Teigen takes Melania Trump to task over 'Be Best'
Knowing Chrissy Teigen's love for Twitter and her fearless attitude towards calling people out, it's absolutely not a shock that Melania Trump got sassed by the mayor of Twitter. For a little context, Melania launched the campaign Be Best in her initiative as first lady to focus specifically on cyber bullying towards children, the White House archives state. "BE BEST will concentrate on three main pillars: well-being, online safety, and opioid abuse," the site adds.
While the causes are laudable, Teigen wasn't seeing much progress. "Has Melania even thought about doing something with her be best sh*t during these times? I see regular ass awesome people on my timeline all day doing all they can to make people happy and this wifebot is working on whatever the fu*k a tennis gazebo is," Teigen tweeted on March 17, 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Teigen wasn't quite done. "ALL I have seen this bot do is gently touch Christmas ornaments in a cape and stare in a cape and pat statues in a different cape and then change her cape into a rude a** jacket," she tweeted, following this with an expletive. Yikes! We wonder how Melania felt about those tweets.
But Teigen did throw Melania a bone by the end of Trump's presidency. On January 21, 2021, Teigen tweeted that "Melania killed the White House fashion game," (via the Daily Mail). At least Teigen's giving credit where it's due.
Bette Midler calls Melania trump an 'illegal alien'
Things didn't go down well for Bette Midler when she took to Twitter to roast Melania Trump after her speech from the Rose Garden for the Republican National Committee on August 25, 2020. Midler mocked Melania's White House initiative and Donald Trump's way of phrasing things. "[Be Best] is back! A UGE bore! She can speak several words in a few languages. Get that illegal alien off the stage!" Midler tweeted. She wasn't done criticizing Melania, adding another tweet that read: "Oh, God. She still can't speak English."
Midler's tweets caused a huge backlash. Sure, you can disagree with someone politically, but many felt it was in poor taste to mock Melania for her accent and spoken language abilities. "How many languages do you speak, Bette? Melania: Slovenian, English, French, Italian, and German," one Twitter user asked her. "Are you actually mocking an immigrant who became the First Lady of the United States for her accent?" someone else asked Midler.
Many brought in their own experiences of immigration and learning a new language. "Bette, comment really uncalled for," someone began. "My grandparents immigrated to the US. They worked hard, became American citizens. They learned English, they spoke with a broken English accent! I was always very proud of my grandparents. You've just insulted a whole demographic of people." Other Twitter users said that they were fully able to comprehend Melania's speech and that the mockery was uncalled for. Midler better hold off from Twitter for a minute!
Lady Gaga calls Melania Trump's campaign hypocritical
It's become tradition for the first lady to take on a project of her own and for Melania Trump, this became her Be Best initiative. As The New York Times notes, Melania chose the name herself and had the aim of tackling online bullying first and foremost, along with other issues that younger generations struggle with. Interestingly, Donald Trump advised Melania against such a campaign, the Times notes, precisely because of how bombastic he could get on Twitter. Hey, at least he knew his weaknesses — that's got to count for something. Trump predicted that Melania would get derided because of the nature of her project.
Well, Lady Gaga provided proof to Trump's warnings, ironically enough. "[Melania Trump] to say u will stand for 'anti-bullying' is hypocrisy. Your husband is 1 of the most notorious bullies we have ever witnessed," the singer-songwriter tweeted on November 6, 2016. Interestingly, some clapped back at Gaga, claiming that she was doing the exact same thing. "I call ur attack on the 1st lady bullying," someone tweeted back. Someone else got even more vehement, saying: "Oh and this is no bullying. Hypocrites!"
But Melania's Be Best campaign faced other issues besides celeb scrutiny. Many of the ideas for the initiative never came to fruition, CNN noted, especially by its second year, when people expected more substance to the initiative. But Gaga's complaints were really targeted more towards Trump than Melania herself or her Be Best campaign.
Stephen Colbert says Melania Trump's message wasn't hidden
Stephen Colbert was another celeb who wasn't too impressed with Melania Trump's jacket choice when she visited Texas on an official visit. On "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," the host said that Melania's role here was to visit detained children and "show that we care." Colbert said that when he and his team saw the photo of Melania in the infamous jacket that read, "I really don't care, do u?" they had to check it repeatedly. "We thought, 'This has to be fake,'" the host said of Melania's sartorial choice.
Stephanie Grisham, who served as the White House press secretary at the time, said to The New York Times, "No one tells the first lady what to do. Our office has nothing to do with what clothing choices she makes and this situation was no different." Grisham added that there was no hidden message.
Colbert jumped on this and said, "Right! It's definitely not hidden!" He added, "And I'm going to guess this is one message she did not steal from Michelle Obama." Colbert was, of course, referring to the uncomfortable moment in June 2016 at the Republican National Convention, when Melania's speech was strikingly similar to the speech Michelle Obama made in 2008 (via BBC). Her team denied any such plagiarism, but maybe she should have taken a note from Obama's book with jacket choices here!
Joy Behar feels sorry for Melania Trump
Comedian and talk show host Joy Behar was a guest star on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" on June 28, 2017. Behar, who's famous for co-hosting "The View," dished with Meyers her thoughts on Donald and Melania Trump. Behar actually goes way back with Trump and noted that the then-president had appeared on "The View" many times. Behar referenced the rather infamous episode where Trump appeared with his daughter, Ivanka Trump. In front of his daughter, Trump said: "I've said if Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her" (via The Mirror).
The topic switched to Melania and Behar said, "I feel sorry for her." The comedian went on, "She had to sleep with him once. At least once she did. And then when she was in New York and we had to pay a million dollars a day to keep her here just because she doesn't want to sleep with him, we have to pay for that. I didn't like that."
Meyers chimed in, "I don't want to sleep with him but nobody gives me any extra money." The duo was referring to Melania's delay in moving from New York City to the White House during the early days of Trump's presidency. As People notes, she chose to do this so that Barron Trump could finish school, but the amped-up security required for her to stay in New York meant huge amounts of money from taxpayers.
Jimmy Fallon brought Melania Trump into a Twitter feud
Jimmy Fallon had an intense back and forth with Donald Trump after Trump appeared on "The Tonight Show." Fallon famously tousled Trump's hair on live TV. People were upset with the portrayal of Trump because they felt that Fallon was being too playful when he should have been going after major issues that the rest of the country was talking about.
Trump, who has since been removed from Twitter, jumped on the platform and tweeted about this reaction. "[Jimmy Fallon] is now whimpering to all that he did the famous 'hair show' with me (where he seriously messed up my hair), & that he would have now done it differently because it is said to have 'humanized' me — he is taking heat. He called & said 'monster ratings.' Be a man Jimmy!" (via The Hollywood Reporter). Fallon went back at it, and said on his next show: "As you may have heard, last night, the president of the United States went after me on Twitter. So Melania, if you're watching, I don't think your anti-bullying campaign is working."
Fallon was addressing Be Best. But it's interesting to note that Melania's interest in a focus on bullying was to help children around the world but also based on her own experience. She candidly told ABC News: "I could say that I'm the most bullied person in the world." She added, "One of them — if you really see what people are saying about me." So, it's not fair to target her when speaking to Trump.
Dan Savage went after Melania Trump
Author and media personality Dan Savage did not hold back when speaking about Melania Trump and refreshingly, he didn't speak about the Be Best initiative or her controversial Zara jacket. However, he really let her have it. On his podcast "Savage Love," Savage said, "God knows there's enough hate in the world and I don't want to add to the sum total, but forgive me, I have got to get this off my chest: I f***ing hate Melania Trump," (via the Washington Blade). What makes Savage's heated critique of Melania different from many other celebrities' criticisms is that they had nothing to do with Donald Trump. "I'm not alone in loathing Donald Trump's third wife — she's married to a misogynist after all," Savage went on. "Odds are good her husband hates her too."
The podcast host said that Melania often gets cut some slack because of her looks. "But there are some folks on the left who not only don't hate her, they view her as some sort of sympathetic figure," Savage added. "The pretty princess in the tower locked up by the orange ogre with the bad combover, a princess desperately blinking out distress signals during swearing-in ceremonies and inaugural balls." But Savage stressed that Melania has complete autonomy rather than a false narrative that she's also a victim.
On Twitter in 2016, Savage tweeted about Melania saying, "Let's not think too hard about the work Melania Trump has done to realize her dreams." Yikes!
Jane Lynch questions Melania Trump's staff
American actor Jane Lynch took umbrage with Melania Trump's infamous "I Really Don't Care. Do U?" jacket and voiced her displeasure on Twitter. "Is [FLOTUS] so unfamiliar with English that she doesn't know what the back of her jacket today says? That her initiative [Be Best] is grammatically incorrect? Is there NO ONE ON HER STAFF to help her with these things?" Lynch asked on June 21, 2018. Someone else echoed back what Lynch said. "As for someone who is a spouse to a 'world' leader she should know better than to use her platform in this manner," they tweeted.
Lynch's tweet brought up an interesting theme in Melania's time as first lady. She had a notably smaller staff than previous first ladies. For instance, when Michelle Obama was first lady, her staff salaries cost an annual $1.24 million a year, Fox News reports. Meanwhile, since Melania operated with such a small crew, their combined salaries came to $486,700. Right-leaning media reported on this as a financially savvy move on Melania's part, but the reduced staff did point to other issues.
Melania's Be Best initiative had a hard time ever picking up and part of this could have been that she simply didn't have enough support. Then there were major issues like Melania's jacket that led people to ask why she didn't have advisors offering help. But had Melania wanted a larger staff, she certainly could have asked for one.
Helen Mirren hoped Melania Trump would fix things
Helen Mirren expected more from Melania Trump as first lady. When it came to Donald Trump, Mirren said that we got what we expected. "[Trump] just said and did whatever it took to get what he desired," Mirren told Allure. "That is quite terrifying, because it means there's a lack of morality there and a lack of conscientiousness."
Mirren also had beef with the Republican Party. "That was the horror of the Republicans: They thought that he was actually a bit of a secret New York-y-type liberal who was quite cool with gays getting married, wasn't he?" But Mirren said that the experience was so shocking and salacious that people are going to have to move on. "It's a bit like watching a car crash. There is a sort of mesmerizing horror — it's why we love horror films."
Mirren also took issue with Melania. "You look at old Mel there, and she is one of the most powerful women in the world because she could take him down. She almost did that with the hand." Mirren mimicked Melania's famous hand slap when she and Trump landed in Tel Aviv, Israel, per People, and Melania smacked his hand.
"I'm Eastern European, you know; [we've] got these dark souls," Mirren added. Of course, Melania's influence could have gone further than smacking away Trump's hand, which is exactly what Mirren means. The fact that it didn't happen shows she might have aligned with his policies.
Chelsea Handler has a burning question for Melania Trump
Chelsea Handler makes no effort to hide the fact that she isn't a Trump fan, and her disdain extends to all members, including Melania Trump. Of course, Handler was yet another celebrity who called the first lady out for her controversial jacket. "The hypocrisy of [FLOTUS] going down to the border to speak broken English to our refugees in that dumb jacket is a little hard to swallow," Handler tweeted. "For all the [Trump] supporters who defend her by saying she speaks five languages — English isn't one of them." Handler is, of course, referencing the fact that Melania speaks Slovenian, English, French, Serbian, and German, according to CBS News.
But Handler faced backlash for comments she has made about Melania's speaking abilities, Time notes. Some felt her tone was anti-immigrant and overly critical of something that has nothing to do with political policy; it was below the belt for some.
Despite this feedback, this wasn't the only time the comedian spoke about Melania. While on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" on November 30, 2020, Andy Cohen asked her what she would want to ask Ivanka Trump and Melania. "I just want to shake them," Handler began. "I want to shake sense into them." She went on, "If I had to ask them anything, I would ask them to please try and imagine what it's like to stand up for women."
Patricia Arquette equally criticized Melania and Donald Trump
Patricia Arquette didn't hold back her disdain for Donald Trump or his presidency. "It's shocking how much destruction to the democracy [Trump] was capable of doing in such a little time," Arquette told The Guardian. "I just feel like we're in the middle of a never-ending emergency triage in America." Arquette felt that during his presidency, there was too much stress and drama too. "I like a low-drama lifestyle," she added. "I like drama in my work, on screen, but I don't care for it in real life. I feel like my life is very drama-free."
But Arquette's critique of Trump extended also to Melania Trump, and the actor jumped on Twitter to speak about the first lady's jacket choice. You know the one. "Melania Trump attempts her fashion spin on let them eat cake! Meanwhile toddlers are locked in cages," Arquette tweeted on June 21, 2018. "This administration is a who's who of Classless bottom dwellers." A few minutes later, she followed this up with another tweet: "Melania Trump just won worst dressed for the century."
Melania ended up speaking up about the jacket to explain why she wore it. "I didn't wear the jacket for the children," she told ABC News. She said that it was "for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me. And I want to show them that I don't care." Well, at least she got to explain that wardrobe choice.
Kathy Griffin calls out Melania Trump after her shocking photo
Kathy Griffin had a tumultuous turn following her criticized image of a Donald Trump look-alike photo in 2017, taken by photographer Tyler Shields, per the Los Angeles Times. For a refresher, Griffin posted a photo on social media of herself holding a head that looked like the then-president, covered in ketchup. "Well, I didn't have any fake blood. I usually don't stock it!" she said, according to CBS News. Trump tweeted at the time, "Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11-year-old son Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!"
In response, Griffin lost gigs and jobs and her tour stalled. Essentially, her entire career flatlined after the image, despite her apology. It wasn't just Trump who called out Griffin. Melania Trump also made a statement saying, "As a mother, a wife, and a human being, that photo is very disturbing," she said, according to USA Today. "When you consider some of the atrocities happening in the world today, a photo opportunity like this is simply wrong and makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it."
Griffin got the chance to speak with Extra later in 2017 and when asked about Melania, the comedian had a sharp reply. "I think there's a lot of people in this administration that seem, like, super nuts, and I think it's weird that you guys or anybody's acting like they're not," Griffin said in response.
Busy Philipps shot back with her own t-shirt
Busy Philipps wasn't having it when she saw Melania Trump's infamous Zara jacket while she was en route to discuss the children being held at the border in Texas. Philipps jumped on Instagram on June 21, 2018, displaying a t-shirt she made that read: "I Care. Do U?"
In her caption, Philipps wrote: "I made a shirt! Because I do care deeply. I hope you do, too. Not caring is super lame, once you're past the age of oh, say 12? Go to familiesbelongtogether.org to learn more about how you can help in this humanitarian crisis happening right now in our country." She also added an urge to be active on election day, saying: "And show up November 6," followed by the hashtags: #endfamilyseparation and #familiesbelongtogether.
Philipps wasn't done calling out Melania's apparent ambivalence about family separation because, that same day, she jumped on Twitter to say, "Also. F**k the message that NOT CARING is somehow 'cool' or 'on trend'. I care so much and so deeply about so many things sometimes it physically hurts. That's what it means to be an empathetic human." The response to Philipps' message was full of like-minded reactions, with many wondering why the First Lady, who typically wore high-end fashion, would choose a $39 jacket, especially with such a loaded message. So, Philipps' message on her t-shirt was certainly a chance to rewrite the script.
Nicki Minaj drags Melania Trump then later calls her 'nice'
Nicki Minaj didn't hold anything back while on stage in October 2016 at the Tidal X 1015 concert in Brooklyn while talking about Melania Trump. Typical of her fiery lyrics, Minaj rapped: "'Cause you are so f**king weak, y'all got the audacity to be intimidated by a bad motherf**king queen and get your motherf**king feelings hurt."
Then Minaj went through the lineage of former presidents and first ladies and rapped, "But it's O motherf**king K, because Barack needed a Michelle, b*tch, and Bill needed a motherf**king Hillary, b*tch. You better pray to God you don't get stuck with a motherf**king Melania." Definitely not a candid portrayal of Melania!
But shortly after her performance, Minaj jumped on Twitter to explain that she wasn't trying to denigrate Melania. "Wasn't 'dragging,'" Minaj began. "She seems nice. But a smart man knows he needs a certain 'kind' of woman when running for President/attempting greatness," she said.
Melania has opened up about her marriage to Donald Trump, and in an interview with CNN, she blamed much of the negativity on media speculation. When asked if she loved her husband, she said, "Yes, we are fine." She went on, "It's what [the] media speculates. It's gossip. It's not always correct." Well, at least Melania got the chance to speak her truth. Meanwhile, we know Minaj isn't going to hold anything back — just one more reason why we love her so much.