Cher, gay icon and mother to Chaz Bono, presented him with GLAAD's Stephen F. Kolzak Award, given to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equality.
Cher has ignited the electoral controversy du jour with an anti-Mitt Romney tweet that some are interpreting as an expression of bigotry against Mormons.
Friday, the singer posted a tweet expressing the need for President Barack Obama to get “all his ducks in a row.” She wrote: “I Feel if he doesn’t get all his DUCKS IN A ROW we’ll b forced 2 listen 2Uncaring Richy Rich! The whitest man in MAGIC UNDERWEAR in the WH.”
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Observant members of the Mormon church, both men and women, always wear what is sometimes called “celestial underwear” or, more formally a “temple garment.” However, the term “magic underwear” is considered offensive and derogatory.
Online push back against Cher’s tweet was immediate and strident: “I love when one rich person berates another for being rich,” one person posted on the site Twitchy, which called the actress an “Anti-Mormon Bigot” in a headline. “I guess she is another example of a celebrity who surrounds themselves with people who always tell them what they want to hear so that they don’t have to think before they speak or ‘tweet in this case.”
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Obama’s campaign is unlikely to be pleased with the furor ignited by Cher, since the incumbent and his spokesmen repeatedly have said that they do not regard Romney’s devout adherence to the Latter Day Saints as a legitimate campaign issue.
