Midler, who stars in one of Netflix’s new movies, “The Politician,” had posted on Twitter a missive criticizing Paul for his description of Kurds as “ingrates.”
“I DO NOT promote violence but… Rand Paul says the Kurds are being ‘ingrates’ for taking their frustrations out on U.S. troops,” Midler wrote on Twitter late Oct. 23.
“Which is a good reminder for us all to be more grateful for the neighbor who beat the [expletive] out of Rand Paul.”
Midler later deleted the missive but did not apologize.
Paul was assaulted by his neighbor in November 2018 and suffered several serious injuries including broken ribs and bruises to his lungs.
“We saved the Kurds from being beheaded and massacred by ISIS,” Paul said on Wednesday. “They were able to win with our armament, with our Air Force, and they should be thanking us and throwing rose petals. And so, no, I’m offended by them throwing refuse at our troops. And it shows them to be ingrates.”
Midler has circulated controversial content on Twitter before.
In June, Midler shared a quote she claimed President Donald Trump once uttered.
The fake quote was spread among opponents of Trump in 2015, gaining enough traction to require debunking by some fact-checking websites.
“If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican,” it reads. “They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.”
“He certainly knew his crowd,” Midler captioned the post.
Midler also deleted that tweet but didn’t apologize.
Trump took to Twitter to write: “Washed up psycho Bette Midler was forced to apologize for a statement she attributed to me that turned out to be totally fabricated by her in order to make ‘your great president’ look really bad.”
“She got caught, just like the Fake News Media gets caught. A sick scammer!” he added.
She also previously wrote about the attack on Paul, posting in Feb. 2018: “Where’s Rand Paul’s neighbor when we need him?”
