Ellen DeGeneres Attempts To Defend Her Friendship With George W. Bush Following An Online Backlash

Over the weekend, Ellen DeGeneres and former President George W. Bush were spotted looking chummy during the Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers game. This, despite Bush’s anti-LGTBQ stance, including supporting the Defense of Marriage Act, and the talk show host being one of the most prominent gay celebrities out there. “During the game, they showed a shot of George and me laughing together. And so, people were upset,” DeGeneres said on her show, responding to the backlash. “They thought, ‘Why is a gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative Republican president’ Didn’t even notice I’m holding the brand new iPhone 11. But a lot of people were mad. And they did what people do when they’re mad: they tweet.”

DeGeneres, who was invited to attend the game by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his daughter Charlotte, added that she’s “friends with George Bush. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have. We’re all different, and I think we’ve forgotten that that’s okay, that we’re all different. For instance, I wish people wouldn’t wear fur. I don’t like it, but I’m friends with people who wear fur… But just because I don’t agree with someone on everything, doesn’t mean that I’m not going to be friends with them. When I say be kind to one another, I don’t mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone,” even this guy.

It’s worth noting that Ellen is from Louisiana and attended the University of New Orleans, where not everyone is so, let’s say, friendly with Bush.

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) October 8, 2019

Laura & George Bush sitting with Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi is not something I expected to see at an NFL game pic.twitter.com/AbWbhXd3RC

— Paid man gets bored (@cjzero) October 6, 2019

Sorry @TheEllenShow , couldn't disagree more. In 15 years this is how they will rationalize yucking it up with Trump. There are countless dead Iraqi children who aren't here to laugh along with you. https://t.co/IrVH6d7p0v

— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) October 8, 2019

is it so bad that ellen and george bush are friends is it so terrible, in these polarising times, to cross the aisle in the spirit of friendship and shared humanity and crack jokes with a guy responsible for the deaths of between 500,000 and 1,000,000 iraqis

— thomas violence (@thomas_violence) October 8, 2019

Here’s the thing, Ellen, George W. Bush is a war criminal who is responsible for death on a cataclysmic scale. It’s not a matter of being friends with people with different beliefs—we all have those friends—it’s about having a little perspective on the damage he’s done. https://t.co/7FJTqPEfb8

— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) October 8, 2019

think of the poor Ellen Show interns who spent all of yesterday looking for a positive tweet and then finally stumbled onto this pic.twitter.com/JugQ2YeUqd

— Valerie⚠️ watching the Universal Monster Movies (@StealingValerie) October 8, 2019

My favorite part of Ellen’s non-apology for hanging out with a war criminal was when she promoted the new iPhone. Pretty cool. pic.twitter.com/gbq8fL9t0W

— Prophet Victor Berger IV (@VicBergerIV) October 8, 2019

What do you think Portia and Laura talked about