Barbra Streisand, mid-teeth cleaning, called into MSNBC to weigh in on Trump vs. Streep
Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winning legend Barbra Streisand did not let her planned teeth cleaning get in the way of phoning in Monday night into MSNBC's Hardball With Chris Matthews to say President-elect Donald Trump's attack on her friend Meryl Streep is "disgraceful."
In the early hours of Monday morning, Trump tweeted to call Streep, the record-holder for most Academy Award acting nominations, "overrated" after Streep delivered a blistering takedown of Trump while accepting her lifetime achievement award Sunday during the Golden Globes.
"I thought that she said what she said beautifully," Streisand said. "And I completely agree with Meryl — it was a heartbreaking moment and so beneath the dignity of the presidency, let alone any respectful person. What we need more in this world is kindness and common decency. And what he did and how he reacts and how he has the need to talk back and insult anybody who doesn't agree with him — that's pretty disgraceful."
She continued:
"What's the signal to little children who watch television and see this is the behavior of the soon-to-be president of the United States? Little girls were heartbroken when Hillary didn't get to be president. Children will listen. I sang that in a song once."
(The song being Stephen Sondheim's "Children Will Listen" from the 1987 musical Into the Woods famously covered by Streisand on her 1993 album Back to Broadway.)
Then, in a moment that can be described as nothing short of iconic yet relatable, Streisand interrupted herself. "You know I'm in the middle of having my teeth cleaned, Chris, you caught me at a disadvantage," she said.
Proving her resilience in the face of a tarter scraper and dentist's mirror, Streisand continued, "If you get on his wrong side, he will blast you negatively... she's a wonderful actress. That he had to denigrate her talent because she spoke out is... as a matter of fact, why isn't he sitting through briefings rather than tweeting this nonsense and in a rating war with Arnold Schwarzenegger? I don't know how we're going to take four years of this."
Then, switching the tone from politics back to oral hygiene once more, she thanked Matthews before asking if she could return to having her teeth cleaned.
Streisand's anti-Trump sentiments are nothing new. In fact, she was one of the first celebrities to publicly express condemnation of a potential Trump presidency back in 2015.
"What if that was Donald Trump up there, I couldn't help but think, 'What would he say?'" she told ABC News in November 2015 after receiving the Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. "I probably would've choked. It's terrifyingly scary, but it's funny. But scary."
Watch the full MSNBC interview below:
