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Innumerable tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II have made since the announcement of her passing last week, coming from everyone from heads of state to celebrities to regular people the world over.
But perhaps no tribute has been quite so memorable as Cher's, whose wacky, often hilariously inscrutable Twitter presence has become legendary in its own right.
The music and film icon took to the platform just hours after Her Royal Highness's death to honor her as only Cher could: with a bizarrely worded, instantly misunderstood tribute that brought the internet some much-needed levity.
\u201cAm Sad About The Passing Of Queen Elizabeth II.I Had Honor Of Meeting Her.\nI Was In Long Line of Ppl\nWaiting 2 Meet Her,Yet\nWhen She Got 2 Me,She Asked Me Pertinent Questions,& Seemed Genuinely Interested In Talking 2 Me.I\u2019m Proud She Was a\ud83d\udc02& Happy She Had a Great Sense Of Humor\u201d— Cher (@Cher) 1662668537
Cher started out her post as many celebrities' have, by recounting the time she met the late Queen. Cher wrote:
"Am Sad About The Passing Of Queen Elizabeth II. I Had Honor Of Meeting Her."
"I Was In Long Line of [people]. Waiting 2 Meet Her, Yet When She Got 2 Me, She Asked Me Pertinent Questions, & Seemed Genuinely Interested In Talking 2 Me."
Cher's was not unlike many others' recollections of meeting Her Majesty shared last week, recounting her in-person grace and warmth.
But the next line of Cher's remembrance definitely raised some eyebrows.
"I’m Proud She Was a🐂& Happy She Had a Great Sense Of Humor"
Wait, did Cher just call the late Queen of England a cow?! Of course not, but you'd be forgiven for thinking so, like much of the internet did.
Others thought perhaps Cher meant to use a goat emoji, to call Queen Elizabeth "the G.O.A.T," meaning "Greatest of All Time." making Cher's supposed blunder go viral almost instantly.
Cher eventually cleared up what she meant. The cow emoji was simply a reference to her and the Queen's shared astrological sign, Taurus, the symbol for which is a bull or ox. Phew!
\u201cSomeone Said I Put a Cow Next to the Queen\ud83d\ude21. Meeting Her Was One Of The Highlights Of My Life.\nWe Are BOTH TAURUS \n\ud83d\udc02\ud83d\udc02& I Was Saying How Proud I Was.Some Ppl Project Their Own Hateful selves On 2 Others.She Was KIND 2 Me,& I Was So Nervous about My Curtsy,I Practiced 4 An Hr\u201d— Cher (@Cher) 1662857825
Of course, Twitter had a field day with this Cher moment.
\u201c\u201cI\u2019m proud she was a \ud83d\udc02\u201d sorry icons only\u201d— Georgina (@Georgina) 1662669036
\u201cI am obsessed with it looking like Cher called the Queen a cow rather than being proud she was a Taurus \u2649\ufe0f \ud83e\udd23\u201d— Will (@Will) 1662740931
\u201ccher and queen elizabeth talking\u201d— \ud83d\udc98 (@\ud83d\udc98) 1662668855
\u201cCher practiced her curtsy for an HOUR and you\u2019re criticizing the placement of her QEll twinning Taurus emoji?! AN HOUR\u201d— K8 (@K8) 1662926817
\u201ccher is the funniest tweeter ever\u201d— aoife!! (@aoife!!) 1662915139
\u201cI am loosing my lungs right now. Cher, OMG. \ud83d\ude02\u201d— IlsanSoftPunch \u2077\u2044\u2087 (@IlsanSoftPunch \u2077\u2044\u2087) 1662743226
\u201cas if lizzie woulda been mad\u201d— babes dont threaten me(ghan) with a good time (@babes dont threaten me(ghan) with a good time) 1662865096
\u201cabsolutely no one does twitter like cher\u201d— laura (@laura) 1662890402
Others pointed out that even if Cher had intended the cow emoji to be literal, it wouldn't have been off-base. Queen Elizabeth was known to be a lover of cows after a viral moment of childlike glee about the animals at a livestock show.
\u201c@cher The queen also loved cows...!\u201d— Cher (@Cher) 1662857825
Cher first met Queen Elizabeth II in 1988 at the British premiere of the Steven Spielberg film Empire of the Sun.
They caught up again at the 2001 Royal Variety Performance, a yearly show for the Royal Family to benefit the Royal Variety Charity, which provides aid to sick, elderly or financially struggling professionals in the British entertainment industry.
Cher performed one of her most beloved hits, "Believe," which was a new chart-topping tune all over the world at the time.