Ellen Degeneres has hit out at fans who criticized her for chatting to former U.S. President George W. Bush at an American football game.
Pictures and video of Ellen and her partner Portia de Rossi enjoying a Dallas Cowboys game with George and his wife Laura on Sunday (October 6, 2019) sparked anger from Twitter users, who were furious due to the ex-politician’s anti-LGBTQ stances and decision to go to war in Iraq.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the comedian addressed the controversy while taping an episode of her chat show that will air on Tuesday.
“People were upset: Why is a gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative president? A lot of people were mad,” she said, before explaining that she was friends with the Bushes.
“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. We are all different and I think we’ve forgotten that that’s OK that we’re all different.”
The 61-year-old star also focused on tweets that praised two Americans with very different views for coming together and said that even though she believes people should not wear fur, she still has friends who do.
“Just because I don’t agree with someone on everything does not mean I’m not going to be friends with them,” she added. “When I say be kind to one another, I don’t mean only the people that think the same as you do, I mean be kind to everyone.”
