Barbra Streisand is arguably one of the most loved actresses and singers of her generation. The singer took to social media to congratulate young Olympian Alysa Liu. However, people were not too happy with her choice of words.
Keep reading to learn more.
Barbra Streisand reacted to Alysa Liu’s gold medal win at the Milano Cortina 2026 Games. However, the singer’s tribute did not go over well with some fans.
20-year-old Liu from Richmond, California, made global headlines for her amazing performances at this year’s Winter Olympics. She won gold medals in both the women’s singles and the team event, which made her America’s first female figure skater to win gold at the Olympics in 24 years. Like many Americans, Streisand was also celebrating the big win. She made a post to social media about the feat achieved by Liu.
In her post, Streisand wrote, “We were so happy to see Alysa Liu win the gold medal in Milan yesterday. My husband just showed me that in 2019, she skated to my song Don’t Rain on My Parade. I’m so proud of her.” She continued the post, “I heard that she is half Chinese. My second family in Brooklyn who lived above us was a Chinese family called the Choys. I worked in their Chinese restaurant since I was 12 years old and also babysat for their children. She was like a second mother to me,” the caption ended.
Don’t Rain on My Parade has long been one of Streisand’s iconic songs from the 1964 musical Funny Girl. The movie of the same name, which came out later, also featured the song, starring Streisand in the memorable role of Fanny Brice.
Alysa’s father Arthur Liu, reportedly moved to California when he was 25 years old. He went into exile from China after the crackdown in the Tiananmen Square Protests. He was a graduate student in Guangzhou before he left China.
The internet was divided on the post made by Streisand. Some thought it was irrelevant to bring Liu’s race into the whole thing. A person on X wrote, “this really shows how white people are so obsessed with race. she’s not being malicious here but like, what does the Chinese family you knew when you were 12 years old have to do with Alysa Liu? Once white people know your race, they don’t see anything else bro.”
Another person noticed how she included herself in the post, “The segue and inserting herself,” while another added, “Isn’t she in her 80s? This sounds like something my 75 year old mom would post on Facebook.”
Another person defended the post and wrote, “She’s honoring the Choy family here. She talks about them every chance she gets b/c they brought her into their family & provide her w/stability when she really needed it. Her childhood was rocky so she’s big on talking about the community & neighbors who raised her. We need that”
Alysa Liu has had her mental health struggles, but despite her struggles, she persevered and has become a global star. After the 2022 Beijing Olympics, she quit figure skating. However, she came back.
She said of her past when she left the sport, “I thought the only way for me to try other things was to leave this because I really felt trapped and stuck, and the only way in my brain to break out was to leave the sport.”
She decided to quit at 16 years old to try and enjoy life and other things it has to offer.
“She became really unhappy. She avoided the ice rink at all costs. She’s traumatized. She was just traumatized. She was suffering from PTSD and she wouldn’t go near the ice rink,” her father revealed in an interview.
She spent two years studying Psychology at UCLA and traveling with friends. in 2024, her love for the sport reignited when she was on a ski trip in Lake Tahoe. This time, she participated on her own terms, with highlights in her hair and a frenulum piercing. She also refused to follow a diet and had complete charge of which songs she chose.
“The last time I was skating, it was so rough. I genuinely can’t begin to start on it,” she said in an interview.
“I hope with all this attention, I can raise awareness about mental health in sports and mental health more generally,” she added.
What do you think of Barbra Streisand’s post congratulating Alysa Liu for her win? Let us know in the comments section. Share this with others to see what they think.
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