You don’t get to be one of America’s most beloved comedic actors without being able to take a joke. Case in point: Melissa McCarthy was asked by a TMZ photographer on Tuesday (April 30) how she felt about Barbra Streisand seemingly commenting about her taking the weight-loss drug Ozempic and she was all smiles.
“I think Barbra is a treasure and I love her,” McCarthy reportedly responded to the paparazzo’s question about the incident, waving off a follow-up about whether the pop superstar/director was out of line with the quip. Asked if she thought the 82-year-old Streisand was “out of line” with the quip, McCarthy said “oh, please.”
The minor dust-up was kicked off when McCarthy posted two pics on Instagram on Monday of herself at the Pastels Center Theatre Group gala with Hairspray director Adam Shankman. “Pastels only to honor the incredible @matthewbourne13 at the @ctgla gala last night with this fella @adamshankman !!” she wrote in the caption. “Thiiiiis much closer to my dream of dancing on stage 💃🏻💚.”
Streisand commented, “Give him my regards did you take Ozempic?,” a question some fans speculated the movie and music icon left thinking it was a direct message to McCarthy instead of a public comment that everyone could see. Ozempic is a diabetes drug that has been repurposed as an anti-obesity treatment that has exploded in popularity among influencers and celebrities over the past year as many stars have suddenly revealed much slimmer profiles.
Streisand quickly deleted the comment and posted a mea culpa on her X profile, writing “OMG – I went on Instagram to see the photos we’d posted of the beautiful flowers I’d received for my birthday. Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy who I sang with on my Encore album. She looked fantastic! I just wanted to pay her a compliment. I forgot the world is reading!”
McCarthy sang a duet on the classic Annie Get Your Gun tune “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better),” on the 2016 Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway album, which also featured team-ups with Anne Hathaway, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Seth MacFarlane, Jamie Foxx and Antonio Banderas, among others. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (Streisand’s 11th, and most recent, to hit that mark) and received a Grammy nod for best traditional pop vocal album.
According to TMZ, since the album’s release Streisand has made a habit of posting comments on McCarthy’s posts.
