Liza Minnelli ‘shaken’ after Oscars bosses ‘forced her on stage’ in wheelchair: ‘She was sabotaged’

metro.co.uk:

following her appearance on stage at the ceremony last month, it has been claimed.The Cabaret star, 76, was joined by Lady Gaga to present the best picture award at the Dolby Theatre on March 27 – which eventually went to Coda.However, according to her friend Michael Feinstein, she originally planned to sit in a director’s chair on stage and was left ‘flustered’ and ‘discombobulated’ when this changed at the last minute.Appearing on SiriusXM, the 65-year-old claimed that he was by her side before she addressed the star-studded audience and had been vocal about not wanting viewers to ‘worry’ about her.‘She was sabotaged.

That’s a terrible word to use, but she only agreed to appear on the Oscars if she would be in the director’s chair, because she’s been having back trouble,’ he said on the Jess Cagle Show, explaining that she had experienced back pains beforehand.‘She said, “I don’t want people to see me limping out there… You know, I want to look good.

I don’t want people to worry about me.”’Michael claimed that the slap drama between Will Smith and Chris Rock sparked chaos behind-the-scenes, and the plans changed ‘literally five minutes’ before Liza was due to present.‘I guess they were all shaken up because of everything that had happened earlier, the stage manager said, “Well, she has to be in a wheelchair”,’ he continued.‘Liza pleaded.

She said, “No, I will not be seen in a wheelchair in front of everybody. I will not do this. I refuse to do this”.‘Then they said, “Well, it’s either that or nothing.”’Michael said that he witnessed the exchange and asked his friend what she wanted to do, and she replied that she would appear – but was left ‘shaken’ from the encounter.‘She was so shaken that she was discombobulated..