“What Did Barbra Really Mean?” Streisand’s Message After Alysa Liu’s Olympic Gold Sparks Unexpected Divide When Barbra Streisand publicly praised Alysa Liu following her 2026 Olympic gold medal win, it seemed like a straightforward celebration. But within hours, the reaction online took a surprising turn — and what began as admiration quickly became debate.
This week, Alysa Liu made history by winning the women’s figure skating gold medal for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina.
If you didn’t know, the 2025 US World Champion is part of the USA trio of figure skaters known as the “Blade Angels”: Amber Glenn, Isabeau Levito, and Alysa — and they’re all certified badasses.
And it’s a big deal that Alysa took home the gold medal, considering the last woman to win gold was Sarah Hughes at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, so Alysa’s win deserves all the praise.
EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) award-winning singer, actor, and filmmaker Barbra Streisand certainly thought Alysa deserved her flowers, so she posted a touching tribute that people feel might’ve missed the mark a bit.
In a Feb. 21 Instagram post, Barbra 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,” referring to her Ladies’ Free Skate performance at the 2019 US National Figure Skating Championships.
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Barbra continued, “I heard that she is half Chinese. My second family in Brooklyn that lived above us was a Chinese family called the Choys. I worked in their Chinese restaurant since I was 12 years old and also baby sat for their children. She was like a second mother to me.”
Here’s the caption:
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Many people were excited for Alysa’s win, but when Barbra shared this tribute, it drew some criticism from people who thought she could’ve worded it differently.
One commenter wrote, “Girl, this caption was a wild ride.” Another said, “This is such a stupid post. ‘Oh, I heard Alysa Liu is half Chinese so let me tell you about this Chinese family I know’ WTH?”
“We love you but noting someone as half anything. She is a gold medalist. Period,” as another person said, “love to know that barbra had a very chinese childhood.”
Some people were more forgiving of Barbra’s tribute, like in this Reddit thread, where someone said, “Every boomer posts on Facebook like this 
.”
“When my daughter came out to her 84 year old grandmother (not complaining, she was overwhelmingly loving and supportive) she got to spend the next hour hearing about every queer person my mom has ever encountered/worked with/been friends with in her entire life and their individual stories,” one person wrote. “The highlight was when she was the manager at a dry cleaner’s and SO many lesbians applied there, which clearly meant lesbians have an affinity for professionaly cleaning garments.”
Another person added, “i love when old people try and be supportive lmao.”
“This is exactly how my mom texts,” one more person said.
Others appreciated Barbra’s post on this Reddit thread, writing, “For what it’s worth she does wax poetically about the Choys in her autobiography for a while and it’s just as random and funny when she does it there.”
“i thought this was sweet as a half asian myself, that she was connecting to alyssa in her own way and putting out unifying energy in a time where we are particularly divided, showing a pro immigrant stance when the us has been coming down hard against immigration, but maybe i was wrong 
,” another Reddit user wrote.
And finally, another commentor said, “Maybe I’m problematic but I give a pass to a boomer who means well even if it’s kind of cringe.”
