When Joaquin Phoenix's name came up on a recent installment of The Wendy Williams Show, things quickly took a turn.
While Wendy was dissecting this year's Golden Globes, naturally Beyoncé's name came up.
View this video on YouTube
But it was during a conversation about Beyoncé's notable decision to not rise for Joaquin Phoenix's standing ovation when Wendy went on a tangent about the Joker actor. "In my universe, who is Joaquin Phoenix?" she asked.
Wendy then proceeded to talk about how hot she thinks Joaquin is: "By the way, I think I've shared this with you before: I find him oddly attractive. He played that Johnny Cash. It wasn't Reese [Witherspoon] who kept me. It was him."
"This right here, I don't know anything about this," she joked, pointing to a still from Joker.
"He knows how to transform. When he shaves this off," she said, referring to his beard, "the way he looks at you...he's got that good nose..."
That's where Wendy veered off course: "He's got that, what do you call it? Cleft lip. I find that to be very attractive," she said, while making a mocking gesture.
No, Wendy, just no.
It didn't take long after the clip aired for people on Twitter to start calling out the talk show host for the offensive joke.
@WendyWilliams - as the mom of an 11 yr old girl who was born with cleft lip & palate, I was horrified to see you make this gesture regarding Joaquin Phoenix’s cleft! These are the kinds of bullying gestures my daughter has dealt with since preschool. SHAME ON YOU.
I’m still appalled at Wendy Williams addressing Joaquin Phoenix’s cleft with such disrespect. It’s honestly just heartbreaking to see people continue to lack understanding and willingness to learn regarding children and adults with cleft lips/palates
Wendy Williams is now making fun of Joaquin Phoenix for his microform cleft. Fucking disgusting. No one should be making fun of anyone else’s appearance. End of story. If y’all wanna drag her, go for it. I’m not gonna feed her.
People are waiting for an apology.
@WendyWilliams should feel ashamed for being so disrespectful joking about Joaquin Phoenix cleft lip, not only to him but others out there. This should not have been aired and she should be held responsible for her actions.
And a donation to a cleft lip and palate charity.
Day 3 We are still waiting for a @WendyWilliams apology to the cleft community. Outside of that, seeing everyone come together on social media to rally around her comments and actions has been truly amazing. It’s clear we are making progress towards being able to #endbullying
Wendy has yet to respond.
Update: Wendy apologized and shared that her show will be donating to the cleft lip and cleft palate nonprofits Operation Smile and American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.
. @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.