Wendy Williams Apologizes To Cleft Community After Being Accused Of Mocking Joaquin Phoenix’s Cleft Lip

January 16, 2020 by C.J. in TV with 0 Comments

Wendy Williams

Wendy Williams Apologizes To Cleft Community After Being Accused Of Mocking Joaquin Phoenix’s Cleft Lip

Wendy Williams issued an apology after she made comments about actor Joaquin Phoenix’s cleft lip.

Ironically enough, she initially admired Joaquin Phoenix’s appearance and cleft lip during the Hot Topics segment on her show recently. She told her audience and her iconic co-executive producer, Suzanne:

“The way he looks at you… He’s got that good nose, it dips way down like he’s happy with it, so so am I. And when he shaves up his mustache he’s got a hairline fracture. He’s gone one of those, what do you call it, a cleft lip. He’s got this, he’s got this. I find it to be very attractive.”

See it at the 11:00 mark.

Many fans, including Canadian football player Adam Bighill, called out Wendy Williams for her comment. Adam Bighill and his son Beau were born with cleft lips. Adam Bighill kicked off a campaign where he urged for Wendy Williams to apologize, and wanted her to receive some sort of consequence from the network.

He shared a screenshot of Wendy Williams’s gesture and wrote on Jan. 10:

“This is @WendyWilliams making fun of the cleft community on her TV show. Are you kidding me??? We all have a responsibility to #EndBullying With her platform, like myself, we have a much higher responsibility when it comes to our actions. This is just terrible.”

He added,

“Sad to see what is in TV these days, There is no way @TheEllenShow would do something like this. She is the CLASS of her industry, and uses her platform for so many amazing things! Makes me appreciate her show even more then I already do!”

He went on to post about it each day.

He then posted a photo of his son Beau heading into surgery on Wednesday (Jan. 15), which seems to be the tweet that got Wendy Williams’s attention.

The daytime talk show host replied with an apology and a donation.

“@Bighill44 We’re thinking about Beau today as he is in surgery. I want to apologize to the cleft community and in Beau’s honor, our show is donating to @operationsmile and @AmerCleftPalate and encourage our Wendy Watchers to learn more and help support the cleft community.”