When Barbra Streisand was asked if she’d ever be on that high school musical show, Glee, she was all “not if I can help it,” which is all sorts of awesome. Instead of letting her snarky comment stand on it’s own, she backtracked and said that she really meant that she was just so busy she couldn’t do the show but of course she’s flattered that Lea Michele copies her, etc. I know when I’m overwhelmed with work I bust out the bitchy comments that are meant in all innocence.

At the pre-Grammy MusiCares event Friday night, Streisand was asked if she would ever consider doing an episode of Glee and replied, “Not if I can help it. ” Needless to say, Gleeks went apoplectic (especially considering show star and professed Streisand fan Lea Michele performed a tribute to Streisand that night).

Now Streisand is doing a quick backpedal clarification…

“When asked if I would ever appear on Glee, I should have said, ‘You never know.’ It was wrong to say, “Not if I can help it,” Streisand said Sunday in a statement to E! News.

“What I meant was that I’ve been overwhelmed preparing for my performance on MusiCares, the Grammys, recording a new album, and starting a new movie. So I couldn’t take on any more work, and besides that, I wasn’t asked. I’m so honored that a lead character on Glee is so admiring of my work. In my speech at MusiCares, I thanked them ‘for exposing young people to music they might otherwise not hear today: Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison and Darren Criss…you’re all so gifted.’

[From E! Online]

That’s a bogus explanation. You don’t say “not if I can help it” if you’re busy, you say if if you don’t want to be associated with something. Barbra realizes that Ryan Murphy is a formidable opponent and that there are young kids on that show who are hardworking and talented, so she’s not going to let her comment stand like that. I guess I can’t blame her but I’d like to see Ryan Murphy try and get in a bitch fight with Babs. He would end up slinking away with his tail between his leg.

Let fading stars like Goop go on Glee and get their mack on with Matthew Morrison. Barbra doesn’t make guest appearances. She gets honored without showing up most of the time. Plus I think Glee jumped the shark with that zombie episode on Superbowl Sunday. I really do. They tried to parody themselves but just made us realize how pointless the show is most of the time.

Barbra Streisand and James Brolin are shown at that Musicares tribute to Babs on 2/11/11. Lea Michele and her pose hard are shown there too. Credit: WENN.com

Lea Michele of Glee is a very talented singer. She also inspires all kinds of hate because she is a consummate diva-in-the-making. Her tears for Chris Colfer and Jane Lynch at the Golden Globes were way over-the-top, and many were glad when she lost to Laura Linney.

It’s no surprise that Lea is becoming a diva. She idolizes full-fledged diva Barbra Streisand, not only for her voice but for her nose.

I grew up in this typical New Jersey town where everyone looked the same. If you didn’t have a nose job, you were about to. Agents and casting directors told me to get one, but my mother said, “Barbra Streisand never did — and neither are you.”

When I met [Glee creator] Ryan Murphy, he asked if I’d ever seen Funny Girl. I said no. When I did see it, I cried my eyes out. Her character felt and looked so much like me! From then, I’ve been obsessed with Barbra. Her voice is perfect. She doesn’t need any tricks. What makes her a rare talent is she can just stand there and sing.

On Glee I’ve sung four of her songs. Every time I do “Funny Girl” I cry. Singing her music [at the MusiCares gala on Feb. 11] isn’t about getting to be in the same room as her or having her hear my voice. (Though I’m nervous — hopefully I won’t vomit!) It’s about me just saying thank you.

[People, print edition, February 27, 2011]

I don’t feel the same hate for Lea as others do, but I don’t watch Glee so I’m not subjected to her every week. Her comments do have an undercurrent of ego in them. She says Barbra’s character “felt and looked so much like me,” not “I felt and looked so much like Barbra.” Plus, I think she’s relishing the opportunity to sing in front of Barbra at MusiCares. Expect more drama tears.

Note by Celebitchy: Lea Michele was seated next to True Grit star Hailee Steinfeld at the SAG Awards, and it looks like Lea and Hailee made up. Hailee told a story a couple of weeks ago about Lea snubbing her on set when she asked for an autograph, and Lea subsequently blamed someone else for it.

Earlier this week, Harper’s Bazaar released their photo shoot and cover profile of their September cover girl, Jennifer Aniston. As many of you mentioned, at least Aniston wasn’t half-naked in the shoot – instead, the whole thing was done as an “homage” to Barbra Streisand. It would have been cool, I think, if the whole thing was just about showing Barbra respect, but throughout the interview, it really seemed like Jennifer was forcing the comparison to Barbra, a groundbreaking actress, singer, director and producer who achieved the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) early in her career – and Barbra is actually in a class of her own, even amongst the EGOTen, what with two Oscars and nine Grammys. Jennifer… well, she had a good career on television, and she’s got an Emmy and a Globe. But the comparison didn’t really help her.

Anyway, Barbra has deigned to comment about Aniston’s shoot, and her reaction was pretty much on course with everybody else’s – “What about the nose?”

Jennifer Aniston paid homage to Barbra in a photo shoot that is featured in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar magazine — and here’s what Barbra said about the photos:

I was very flattered that Jennifer Aniston chose to interpret my style with the photos in Harper’s Bazaar. She’s a delightful person, and I think she did a wonderful job. If only she had a bump on her nose.

[From Barbra Streisand’s blog]

Not necessarily a cut, not necessarily a compliment either. Personally, I think it was very classy of Barbra to use the words “flattered” and “delightful” when most icons would have used the words “bitch” and “please”.

Header: Babs’ album cover courtesy of Google Images. Additional photos of Jennifer Aniston’s Bazaar shoot courtesy of Bazaar online.

Oh. My. BABS! Jennifer Aniston chose to do an homage to Barbra Streisand and Funny Girl for the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar, and these photos… oh my God. On one side, I feel like Aniston is raping the best Streisand movie ever, and that Aniston needs to seriously cool it. On the other side, I kind of see it, the comparison, the homage, the parallels. Maybe if Aniston had kept her original nose? The full Bazaar piece is here, and it is just… I don’t know. I tend to think Aniston just wishes. Barbra, for all of her faults as a person, is one of the most talented women to ever work in Hollywood. She’s a wonderful actress, an amazing singer, a gifted director (hello, Prince of Tides!). Babs is also an Oscar-winner two times over. Aniston… just isn’t. Here are some highlights:

On wanting Streisand‘s voice: “Someone said to me, ‘If I had Barbra’s voice for just one day,’ and I said, ‘Nah, I don’t want to be greedy. If I had her voice for just one shower — just a shower’s worth — I would be happy.’” If so, perhaps it’s worth forgetting modesty and selling tickets. “Hmm, no,” she laughs. “Well, actually, if it was her voice …”

On being a funny girl: “People laugh at me. Sometimes I know why, and sometimes I don’t. But I can pretty much find humor in anything. That is a necessary part of life. I don’t want to say laughter is healing, because it sounds corny, but it’s a release.”

On what she’s learned from Barbra Streisand: “You don’t have to stop at one thing. You can do it all if you want to.”

On being in the spotlight: “[Barbra and I] are people who have been put in the spotlight, for better or for worse, and you just keep riding, and you keep overcoming.”

On looking up to Streisand: “Barbra inspires me because there isn’t anything she hasn’t done that she wanted to do, especially as a female in the time when her generation was prime. She’s a true renais­sance woman. . . I had a long conversation with Barbra about directing because I directed a short a couple years ago, and if I don’t do it again soon, I’m going to burst out of my skin. And we also love interior design.”

More comparisons: “Also, we are people who have been put in the spotlight, for better or for worse, and you just keep riding, and you keep overcoming, and you just stay true to what you love to do.”

On people laughing at her: “People laugh at me. Sometimes I know why, and sometimes I don’t. But I can pretty much find humor in anything. That is a necessary part of life. I don’t want to say laughter is healing, because it sounds corny, but it’s a release.”

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

I get the fangirling on Babs, I really do. I would fangirl too, that’s not it. My problem is that in the entire interview, Aniston really seems to push the comparisons hard, and I just feel like she’s not worthy. There is no comparing yourself to Babs, unless you’re Bette or Cher or someone like that. Babs made the industry fit her – Aniston (and all of the current rom-com girls) try to fit into the industry. Babs embraced her “ethnic” looks – Aniston is a Greek girl trying to remake herself as a California blonde clone. I could go on, but what’s the point?

Photos courtesy of Bazaar.

There were 81 artists involved in the remake of “We are The World” to benefit Haiti. They brought an army of staff with them to the recording studio. At the original recording in 1985, producers were so aware of entitlement issues with that group that there was a sign at the entrance that said “Check Your Ego at the Door.” One musician that couldn’t leave her ego behind this time was Barbra Streisand. EW reports that Streisand was given a key line to sign from the chorus but that it wasn’t enough for her and she complained:

By 6 p.m., the choir had run through the chorus at least a dozen times, and took a ten-minute break that turned into 45. On a large screen set up in the courtyard, the masses of personal assistants and publicists and managers lingering during the session (and the civilians who’d gathered on the street outside the complex) were treated to a live feed of Streisand recording the same line over and over and over and over. For the record, it was “There’s a choice we’re making / We’re saving our own lives / It’s true we’ll make a better day / Just you and me.” “I didn’t come all this way to sing one line,” Babs said at one point; they then allowed her to vamp some improvisations over the chorus. Other acts pulled out to sing solo lines were Bieber (riffing on the chorus melody in his earnest teensy way), Groban (“We can’t go on / pretending day by day…” as well as providing what he called “the token classical note of the vamp”), and Dion, who was coached by Lionel Richie to let her inner gospel diva out. “You’re honored that they pick you for the hardest part of the song, but at the same time it gives you a lot of pressure, so thanks a lot,” she joked. “The rhythm was changed a little bit and I so wanted to make it perfect. They played the track, and on my right shoulder, Lionel Richie. I was like, ‘I think I’m in good hands.’”

[From EW via Tabloid Prodigy]

Give me a break. I get that Streisand is a legend in the industry, and that she was the buzz at the Clive Davis pre Grammy party. Recording a song for charity isn’t about getting the most exposure possible, but I guess that’s hard for Streisand to grasp. It’s all about her and how far she traveled for her trouble.

I have to admit, I’m a real sucker for an underdog. I find it very intriguing anytime someone overcomes adversity. But when I think of famous celebrities that have had it rough, I never think of Barbara Streisand. It turns out Babs had a really hard luck childhood. Not just because her family was incredibly poor – she grew up in a Brooklyn housing project in an apartment that didn’t even have a living room – but because she was actively discouraged from pursuing show business.

“We never had a couch. We never had a living room,” the singer/actress, who grew up living in a Brooklyn housing project, says in an interview set to air on CBS’s Early Show Tuesday. “We only had a dining room and then my grandmother and grandfather lived in one bedroom. My mother, my brother and I slept in another bedroom … Now, I love couches,” says the star.

Another thing she lived without: “You know, I never had a doll – I had a hot water bottle,” says Streisand.

As for how she made it from Brooklyn to Hollywood success, she says it was a hard road where she didn’t have much encouragement from her family. When she told her mother she wanted to be an actress, Streisand, 66, says her mother told her, “‘You’ll never make it. You’re not pretty enough. You’re not this enough.”

Still, the singer says, “I owe her a lot because, in a sense, I was proving to my mother that this skinny, little girl, you know, unconventional looking, I suppose, could be a movie star.”

[From People]

Talk about coming a long way. According to Forbes, Streisand earned about $60 million between June 2006 and June 2007 alone. That’s a lot of dolls and couches. Though nothing is better from a parent than encouragement, her story shows that even if you don’t get that, you can still achieve amazing things by working hard and knowing you’ve got the skills to make it. It’s a little cheesy but Barbara’s story shows it’s true. She made a lot out of her talent and worked with her “unconventional” looks, and has had an amazing career to show for it – and it’s lasted much longer that most.

Header of Barbra Streisand and husband James Brolin at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC for the honourees’ traditional pre-honours dinner at the State Department on December 6th. Images thanks to WENN.

I am pretty liberal, but even I think this is dumb.

Barbra Streisand pissed everyone off at her recent NY concert by making them sit through a boring skit and duet she did with a Bush lookalike. When hecklers told her what they thought about paying big bucks to hear her sing and being forced to watch a contrived dialogue, she lost her cool and told them to f&$@ off:

Here’s a quick video of Barbra’s appearance with the Bush lookalike. The Bush guy says “I’ve got an iPod at home, it just says ‘Babs’” Uh, yeah, that’s really hip of you Barbra. This is just a clip and does not include Babs getting pissed off or talking at length with the guy, but there are chairs on the stage so they probably settled in afterwards for a thrilling heart to heart.

In contrast, I heard that Bruce Springsteen just used some quick sound bites of Bush talking about WMDs like he was psychic to justify the war. Madonna got heat for showing some visuals comparing Bush with Hitler, but at least she didn’t waste concert-goers time with a skit. And of course George Michael pulled out a giant blow up doll of Bush getting blown by an English Bulldog to mixed results.

There are cooler, more subtle ways to make your political opinions known, but Babs is just old and unaware of how to pull it off without looking like an idiot.

I couldn’t find the “f&$@ off” video on iFilm or YouTube yet. Once it hits the video sharing sites I’ll post it here.

Update: The guy who heckled Babs at her show may have been a “right wing plant,” but I still think it was dumb of her to respond and to do that played-out skit in the first place.

Barbra Streisand must have seen those terrible pictures of herself that came out recently, or maybe she just wants to spruce up for her latest concert comeback. Regardless she’s seen outside a plastic surgeon’s office clutching a juice box while covered in a black veil.

It will take more than surgery to fix Babs. Maybe she should call Madonna and get some tips on how to slim down while cashing in on tired old gimmicks to sell out concerts. Barbra desperately needs the help, her high-priced concert tickets aren’t selling well and her longterm fans are pissed at paying big bucks for her last tour, which she claimed was her final one.

Pictures from Celebrity Mania and DListed.

We are bleeding heart liberals, and even we think this is dumb. Barbra Streisand says she’s going to tour for the first time in 12 years to bring awareness to the causes she’s interested in. And, get this, she will give “designated proceeds” to charity – her own charity. She doesn’t give an exact percentage or amount of course:

If you’re going to give money to charity, you should say exactly how much. It’s going to Babs’ own damn foundation, so you think she could commit to an amount if she’s going to put out a press release about it. She could earn up to $2 million a night for this tour, so it’s not like she can’t afford it.

Just like Heather Mills, Barbara Streisand has a snotty “Myth vs. Truth” section on her official website. Of course she should dispute inaccurate reports, but she does it in such an over-the-top self-satisfied way that it makes her seem reactionary.

On her website Streisand doesn’t address a NY Daily News report that she didn’t pay for tickets at a Malibu Movie theater with her husband, James Brolin. Stresiand sucked up to the young guy at the counter to avoid having to pay less than $20 to get in. Her publicist defended the cheapskate move, saying comping celebrities is a “professional courtesy that many theaters extend to film stars.”

Streisand will play 20 concerts in the US in October and November of this year.

Update: I actually read through several of the “Myth vs. Truth” sections of Babs’ website, and they’re not that over-the-top. The problem I have is with the name of the section coupled with the riduculous design of her website. It features a pink content area on a black background and has a dumb picture of Streisand holding roses while sitting on a pink silk chair as the header image. She should shell out the money to hire a more modern designer. Oh wait – she’s too cheap. Been there. Worked for those people. (Oh, I have this lovely picture I’d like to put on the top of every page. Could you blow it up too and make it the background?)