This was revealed by his friend, the musician Michael Feinsteinduring an interview in The Jess Cagle Show. According to Feinstein, Minnelli climbed in a wheelchair against her will, after advising the Academy management that she didn’t want to appear that way on stage, she wished she were sitting in a director’s chair.
Minnelli’s need to be off her feet is due to a back ailment that makes it difficult for her to walk, and it was something that the Academy had been aware of for some time, before they “forced” him to get on a chair he didn’t want. “She said ‘I don’t want people to see me limping out there.’ She said ‘you know, I want to look good. I don’t want people to worry about me,” says Feinstein. According to him, Minnelli would have been “sabotaged” by the organization of the Academy.
“Then five minutes before he came out, when he sat in a director’s chair backstage (and because I guess everyone was in shock from what had happened earlier), the stage manager said ‘no, he has to be in a chair. wheel'”.
Feinstein concedes that it could have been a mistake by the organizers, derived from the confusion that Smith’s coup and his subsequent Oscar had raised, which does not mean that it was humiliating for Minnelli.
“She was nervous and they made her look like she was in a daze. Can you imagine suddenly being forced to be seen by millions of people in a way you don’t want? well that’s what happened”, claimed the artist.
Before the ceremony, Minnelli reportedly told Feinstein: “No, I’m not going to be in a wheelchair in front of everyone. I will not do it. I have refused to do so.”. When the Academy unfortunately contradicted her wishes, Minnelli took the stage in shock and unable to speak normally. “Although it’s a shame what happened,” concludes Feinstein, the singer these days “is very well.”
Source: Ambito

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