“I’m friends with George Bush.”
TV chat show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres came under fire on Monday for her decision to sit next to former US President George Bush.
Many people took to social media to voice their outrage, as Bush vocally opposed same-sex marriage as President, while Ellen DeGeneres is seen as a figurehead of the gay community.
Following the backlash, DeGeneres delivered a monologue on her chat show, where she said that people should be able to be friends with people with very different beliefs.
After showing a tweet which read ‘Ellen and George Bush together makes me have faith in America again’, she said: “Exactly. Here’s the thing. I’m friends with George Bush. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have.”
“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 only mean the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone.”
Take a look:
Yes, that was me at the Cowboys game with George W. Bush over the weekend. Here’s the whole story. pic.twitter.com/AYiwY5gTIS
— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) October 8, 2019
She also compared her friendship with Bush to her friendship with people who wear fur, which as a whole, has not gone down well on social media, which is visible in the replies to her tweet.
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