Ellen Degeneres Defended Her Friendship With George W. Bush
On Sunday, Ellen Degeneres had box tickets to a Dallas Cowboys game where she was photographed having a laugh with her friend George W. Bush. It raised a few eyebrows, so yesterday, Ellen did a segment of her show explaining how she and Dubya’s friendship is a beautiful thing that has the power to unite a divided nation. You see, we just don’t know George like Ellen does. To many Americans, George is an unprosecuted (alleged) war criminal who used his position as president of the United States to start wars based lies, worked to restrict the rights of the LGBTQ community, “doesn’t care about black people” (RIP 2006 Kanye West), funneled government funds to faith-based organizations, and is a really shitty painter. But to Ellen he’s just a harmless old dude with a folksy accent who’s in the same tax bracket and loves wearing sneakers as much as she does. No wonder they’re friends!
As you can imagine, not everybody is jazzed about a remake of the Aniston/Sandler classic Just Go With It starring Ellen and Dubya. When the picture of the two made the rounds, people flooded Ellen’s Twitter with criticism. Ellen faced her detractors head on, framing her friendship with George as a hug across the aisle.
Much like giving Kevin Hart a platform to screw himself more on, Ellen’s segment didn’t move her detractors to her way of thinking either. Turns out name-dropping and bragging about elite friendships didn’t convince everybody that George W. Bush is just a regular guy who also likes nachos, with whom she simply has a difference of opinion.
This Ellen/Bush story isn’t about “disagreement.” We all have friends who see the world differently. George W. Bush fought against marriage equality, put us into unjust wars, and destabilized whole countries. To frame this as a “difference of opinion” is dishonest.
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) October 8, 2019
Ellen bragged about being friends with Jerry Jones and took a video bragging that she was sitting next to W. Bush. She could easily have sat next to Bush the whole game without publicizing it. She was caught off guard by criticism and is now trying to make it about civility.
— Joe Dunman (@JoeDunman) October 8, 2019
listen up wokesters: say what you will about ellen, but i’ve had ENOUGH of this cancel culture that goes after decent men like george w. bush just because they launched an illegal war, drowned a city, and brought the world to the brink of a second great depression.
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) October 8, 2019
Ellen out here letting bush drive her ultima while telling the timeline “y’all don’t know him like i do damn”
— Desus Nice (@desusnice) October 8, 2019
However, a number of Ellen’s fans were thrilled by her daring at turning her chuckle with George, into a feel-good kumbaya moment which has the power to heal a fractured nation.
I love George Bush and I love Ellen so personally I think this is great https://t.co/Hpe5MaIwN8
— Darbi Johnston (@darbidanielle) October 8, 2019
See, love is love is love is love! And some further suggested that George’s willingness to sit next to A LESBIAN proves, well, I’m not really sure what it’s supposed to prove. Republicans love lesbians?
Ellen is getting criticized for socializing with George W. Bush.
George W. Bush *isn't* getting criticized for socializing with Ellen.
That tells you most of what you need to know about the partisan divide in our nation.
— Prof. Mark Youngkin (@mayoungkin) October 8, 2019
Notice no one on the right, no Evangelical Christian leader, is mad at George W. Bush for being friends with Ellen because she's gay. 🤷♂️
— Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) October 8, 2019
What, because gays are warlords too? Maybe it’s just that republicans love Ellen specifically. I mean she’s just a harmless old lady with a folksy accent who’s in the same tax bracket as Bush and loves wearing sneakers as much as he does.
Pic: YouTube