Michael Feinstein, who is a close friend of Liza Minnelli, has stated that her presence at the Oscars was marred after she was forced to attend via a wheelchair.
Michael Feinstein Suggests That Liza Minnelli Was Forced To Attend The Oscars In A Wheel Chair
At the ceremony, Liza went on stage in order to present the award for Best Picture. While that was a huge moment in and of itself, things were heightened by the following.
Liza was overshadowed by having Lady Gaga walk up with her on stage. And secondly, this was compounded by the use of the wheelchair which naturally led many to assume that she was having major problems with her health.
And yet, it seems this was not the natural script. In an interview on the ‘Jess Cagle Show,’ Michael said: “[She] only agreed to appear on the Oscars if she would be in the director’s chair, ’cause she’s been having back trouble…
“[But then was told to use a wheelchair].” This begs the question, why would the ceremony decide to do this? Well, outside of an alternative explanation to the contrary, this could be down to the following reasons.
First of all, Will Smith did happen to slap Chris Rock which took everyone by surprise. Therefore, the organisers may have wanted to avoid any unforeseen trouble. After all, imagine if Liza did suffer a mishap on stage.
There would clearly be grounds for a lawsuit. Michael added: “I guess they were all shaken up because of everything that had happened earlier.”
Nevertheless, it still did impact Liza’s state of mind. The star expanded on how she was saddened by the decision, even if she only expressed this behind the scenes.
Not only that, but by confiding in Michael, it demonstrated that she needed to get things off her chest. His following comments confirmed as much: “She was nervous. I mean, and it made her look like she was out of it.
“And she was just so shaken up that it was.” Time will tell if Liza does make a comeback to the awards. So there you have it folks. What did you think about all of this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
