Tina Fey hits out at Mean Girls complaints: ‘This is why we can’t have nice things’

Actor and comedian fired back at those who have criticised differences between the film and the Broadway musical it was based on

Tina Fey has called out TikTok users who have been complaining about the Mean Girls movie musical, saying “this is why we can’t have nice things”.

The comedian, 53, was speaking on the Las Culturistas podcast with hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers when she addressed criticism of one of the songs in the film, “Revenge Party”.

In the last segment of the popular show, “I Don’t Think So, Honey”, in which guests are encouraged to air their pop culture grievances, Fey hit back at detractors for failing to appreciate the talented vocalists in the cast.

“Little Broadway c***s on TikTok [are] complaining about two lines of ‘Revenge Party’ when I bring you f***ing Reneé Rapp, I bring you Auli’i Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey. This is why we can’t have nice things,” she said.

Fey wrote and co-starred in the new musical, which arrives 20 years after the original film starring Rachel McAdams and Lindsay Lohan.

The new film is based on the Broadway musical, which in turn was based on Mark Waters‘s 2004 comedy film, both written by Fey and based on Rosalind Wiseman‘s 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes.

It is unclear which “two lines” of “Revenge Party” Fey was referencing, but she appears to be suggesting that some fans were unhappy with differences between the Broadway version of the song and the one in the film.

In a two-star review of the new film for The Independent, critic Clarisse Loughrey called Mean Girls “an unsatisfying, culturally irrelevant musical rehash of a teen classic”.

Tina Fey in ‘Mean Girls’ (© 2023 Paramount Pictures.)

She wrote: “Most of the cast buckle under the expectation of replicating the steel-cut comedic timing of the original film’s stars, while the musical numbers are sunk by what seems like a tight budget.”

Fey reprised her role as maths teacher Ms Norbury for the 2024 adaptation and talked to People about how it felt to revisit her Mean Girls role alongside fellow SNL Tim Meadows, who returned as Principal Duvall.

Tina Fey (Getty Images)

“It was fun. It’s been nice to see Tim,” Fey said of her co-star— who also starred in the 2011 TV movie sequel Mean Girls 2, a project Fey was completely unaffiliated with. “One of us has aged — the other one of us is Tim Meadows! But it’s been really nice to get to work with Tim again.”

“I am reprising my role as Ms. Norbury because we thought, well, teachers work for a long time. So it might make sense if Tim and I did it,” she explained. “So I called Tim and I was like, ‘Will you do it? I’ll do it if you do it.’”

The 30 Rock star added that they only had one stipulation to join the project, “And we said yes, as long as we don’t have to sing.”