Liza Minnelli Was 'Sabotaged' at the Oscars, Claims Pal Michael Feinstein

According to her bff singer Michael Feinstein, Liza Minnelli was sabotaged and forced to sit in a wheelchair at the recent Oscar ceremony.

Life wasn't much of a cabaret for Liza Minnelli at the recent Oscar ceremony where she announced the Best Picture winner with Lady Gaga. Liza being in a wheelchair was cause for much speculation at the time, as was her general confusion mitigated somewhat by an empathetic Lady Gaga; and some said it was due to her ongoing battle with encephalitis.

But according to her bff singer Michael Feinstein, Liza was sabotaged by the Oscars stage manager who, moments before the segment, demanded that Minnelli get into the wheelchair, the Independent reported.

"She was sabotaged," Feinstein told SiriusXM's "The Jess Cagle Show" on Tuesday. "That's a terrible word to use, but she only agreed to appear on the Oscars if she would be in a director's chair, because she's been having back trouble."

While Minnelli was clearly confused, Feinstein cited the backstage drama immediately beforehand as the reason.

"She said, 'I don't want people to see me limping out there.' She said, 'You know, I wanna look good. I don't want people to worry about me.'"

According to the Daily Mail, Minnelli was sitting in the director's chair five minutes before the segment was to begin when she was demanded out of it by the stage manager and told to sit in the wheelchair.

"And then literally, literally five minutes before she went on, when she sat in the director's chair back there...I guess they were all shaken up because of everything that had happened earlier (referencing the now-infamous Will Smith/Chris Rock altercation)...the stage manager said, 'Well, she has to be in a wheelchair' and Liza pleaded," he continued.

"She said, 'No, I will not be seen in a wheelchair in front of everybody. I will not do this. I refused to do this."'

The stage manager was allegedly adamant: either Liza would sit in the wheelchair or she wouldn't go on.

In the moment, Feinstein asked Minnelli if she wanted to continue and she agreed. "He claimed she was 'so shaken' from the confrontation that it left her 'discombobulated,'" the Daily Mail said.

"She was nervous. I mean, and it made her look like she was out of it. And she was just so shaken up that it was," he continued.

She was very disappointed, he said.

"Can you imagine being suddenly forced to be seen by millions of people the way you don't wanna be seen? That's what happened to her. And she was very disappointed at that, that that happened and it was not what was agreed to," he said.

"So she's, she is really doing well and it's a shame that it turned out that way. She was very disappointed."

Minnelli was appearing at this year's ceremony to honor the 50th anniversary of "Cabaret," the film for which she won the Best Actress award in 1972. Look back at her greatest performances at this link.

This wasn't the first time Minnelli has been shamed at the Oscars. In 2014, host Ellen DeGeneres famously misgendered the actress by calling her a "drag queen" and labeling her a "he."