As we discussed yesterday, people had feelings about George W. Bush and Ellen DeGeneres being seated together at a Dallas Cowboys game over the weekend. There were photos and videos of Bush and Ellen acting chummy in the VIP box and some people were like “remember when he ran for re-election with one of the most homophobic campaigns in history” and “remember how he’s a war criminal” and “remember how he and his buddies broke the Middle East.” Well, Ellen saw those comments and she decided to respond:
Ellen joked that her presence at the game was a “big deal” because she never leaves her house, and because she was actually rooting for the Packers, not the Cowboys. But she addresses the Bush thing and acknowledges that people were upset:
“They thought, why is a gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative Republican president… a lot of people were mad, and they did what people do when they’re mad: they tweet.” Instead of sharing the less savory comments, DeGeneres shared a positive tweet she says that she “loved,” which said, “Ellen and George Bush together makes me have faith in America again.”
To that, DeGeneres 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…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. And I’m friends with people who are furry, as a matter of fact. I have friends who should tweeze more. 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. Even people who are already playing Christmas music — I mean seriously, there’s no excuse for that, but I’m kind to them,” she joked before thanking both Jerry and Charlotte Jones, as well as the Bushes “for a Sunday afternoon that was so fun — by the way, you owe me $6 for the nachos.”
I mean… it’s the dilemma we’ve been facing a lot in the Trump era. I am happy to cancel the f–k out of every Trump supporter, every Trump voter out there. But… am I going to cancel someone who merely sat next to Trump, or someone who treated him like a human being? As for Bush and DeGeneres… I don’t know. She makes a decent point about how you can be friendly and nice to someone you don’t agree with. But it does feel like there’s a natural limit to that too, and everybody’s different. Also: someone pointed out that Rupert Murdoch was also in the VIP box, not far from Ellen. He’s a pretty awful person too.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I love Ellen and love that she said this, I am canceling this “Cancel Culture”. I 100% agree with her that we should be kind to everyone, even those we disagree with. I have friends who are Dems and Republicans and I love them all. Sure, there are times we don’t discuss politics (or religion!), but that is fine! Everyone has a reason for what they believe, and I welcome their free choice.
Thanks Ellen for being real and not backing down! The happiest people seem to be those who are kind to everyone and don’t get eaten up by hatred.
And you are never going to change hearts and minds by telling someone they are stupid.
This all sounds very white to me. Sorry.
+1
This.
THIS👏👏👏👏👏👏
when you’re white, its all alright, right Ellen?
Also Ellen is a known sociopath behind the scenes. Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dynamic. The personality on her TV show is completely fake. She is incredibly mean to the people she works with. Who she portrays to be in celebrity culture & on her TV show is NOT who she is in real life, at all. I’m surprised footage hasn’t leaked behind the scenes of her cutting down her employees or berating people, as she does.
Ellen’s class privilege is probably a bigger factor than her white privilege.
This is so tone-deaf, I’m sorry.
Equating needless warmongering and LGBT bigotry with someone being furry is absurd. Ellen is looking creepy.
There is a difference between “being friendly to” and “being friends with.” She stated the latter. I love Ellen, but I have a problem with this. To begin, G. W. started an illegal war that has cost HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people their LIVES, and still isn’t over. Sorry. This is not the same thing as being friends with a regular person in your neighborhood who supports Trump for some dumb reason.
So why did she say trump will never be allowed on her show sounds like hate to me
Wow. This is the most tone deaf thing Ive read in awhile.
This is unintentionally hilarious because if you watch even one episode of her show, you’ll probably find her making rude comments or mean jokes at the expense of others.
Exactly, I remember her making fun of a woman named Titti (pronounced tee-tee) and when the woman got upset she double downed on making fun of the name and it made national news. I could only imagine the poor woman was mortified. It’s her name, she lives with it day in and day out and she was personally singled out and had to put up with a whole bunch of strangers mocking her name.
I love jokes but if you know that someone is hurt or offended it’s time to end the joke and apologise.
Thank you Erinn I’ve wondered for so long why people hype her niceness! When I’ve watched her show a few times I found her to be breathtakingly mean. Too the point where I worry about Portia do rossi.
Leave ‘life is cheese’ alone. This post doesn’t mean they are tone-deaf/racist. I wish I could be nicer and less bitter myself….probably not going to happen, but honestly imagine how freeing it would be to not hold in so much anger for certain humans.
This sounds very white, too.
And thanks Mellie! Who knew that saying I choose to be kind would cause people to meltdown. ☺️
I bet the Iraquis who died needlessly and people tortured at Guantanamo Bay and the people in the Superdome would have preferred for Bush to be “kind” too, but he wasn’t, and ignoring that he did these things isn’t kind, it’s cruel to real victims.
Athyrmose…puhlease…I might be the most bitter person I know and I truly wish I was not, I need to stop reading the news and responding to dumba$$ comments. Maybe that will help.
Athyrmose is right.
Thank you for your input, Why Can’t We All Just Be Nice White Lady.
You’ll never know true hate.
i absolutely agree with maria – how about if we had all been “kind” about iraq, guantanamo, new orleans? …
having different “beliefs” is one thing.
one person believes in G-d, one doesn’t. One person believes in the gov’t providing national health care, one does not. One person believes that a stimulus will help the economy, one doesn’t.
those are all cases where having different “beliefs” is not a dealbreaker for friendship.
but when your “beliefs” entail the actual jailing, if not outright killing, of people I love (LGBTQI or any person of color), then we can’t just “agree to disagree”. when your “beliefs” infringe on other’s right to exist, or you don’t think those people should have the same rights as white, straight, Christians, you and I can’t be friends. I won’t be “kind” to a person like that.
WhatWHAT +10000
Seriously, what is wrong with folks today. Difference of opinion ends the moment people are murdered for it. at least half a million iraqis are dead because of a difference of opinions????
THANK YOU.
Being kind to, or friends, with those with differing beliefs is FINE. Being kind to those whose lies and greed led to the death, pain and suffering of millions? No thank you.
Being kind to people who actively hurt people and take away their rights, based on race, gender, or sexuality? No thank you.
Being kind to those who think it’s fine to treat asylum seekers like animals and throw children in cages? No thank you.
Kindness is a great thing. We all need more of it in our lives, and in the world as a whole. But FFS, not EVERYONE is deserving of it.
Thank you! Being friends with someone who believes in, say, the teachings of Buddha is one thing. Being friends with a war criminal is something else entirely.
@whatwhat thank you!! This man is a war criminal, his VP a war criminal, most of his cabinet are war criminals. 5K American soldiers & 100K Iraqis lost their lives over his fake lying war. If we listen to Ellen it would be ok to be friends with Hitler. Bush ran a “homosexual marriage will destroy American civilization” theme in his 2004 campaign. He burned up the phone lines to get Kavanaugh a seat on the highest court in the land & Ellen has him on her show to promote his art?
I hate to be the “cancelled” person but she is dead to me now. It is a privileged white rich BS response from a privileged white rich woman.
NO.
This, all of this, all day and all night.
Well….I’m here to back you up on this sentiment. I’m tired of the always being angry. I’m tired that we are all supposed to feel one way or be cancelled. Look, I get being angry at Trump and even at people who still support him no matter what.
Which is not George W Bush. Plenty of republicans (or more to the point—former Republicans) were and are never Trumpers. The Bushes are a lot of things both good and bad (I lived in Dallas and have first hand seen good from them non Dallasites would never know about because it went unreported by their own design)….but they aren’t Trump supporters.
I’m sure I’ll be slammed for this too, so I’ll stop here. But constant anger and tirades against anyone with a divergent thought is just tiresome.
Really? Bush has been campaigning very hard for Trump’s pick Kavanaugh. And he utilized a lot of the same policies that Trump does. Why are you so sure they aren’t in the same boat despite the “disclaimers” the Bushes throw out?
W may be a never-trumper, but he advocated and made calls for Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
he can SUCK. IT.
This isn’t a disagreement about favorite colors or types of food. This is about a man who sent thousands of young men and women to die for no reason. And who openly campaigned to get Brett Kavanaugh confirmed.
What’s scary to me is that people like you and Life is Cheese cant seem to tell the difference.
The Supreme Court is hearing a case today that will determine if LGBT people can be fired. So the stakes are a bit higher than just “getting over it”.
I’ll reiterate the sentiment I expressed below (which I feel like I should have on hand today if this is the conversation that’s gonna happen): I’m SURE that the Iraqis whose country this vile, craven man destroyed are truly appreciative of all the good that the Bush family has done for the city of Dallas. The civilians who were killed by the unlawful occupation of their country and the subsequent chaos and turmoil caused by said invasion that endures until this day in the region are truly grateful to have you set the record straight on how him not supporting Trump makes him okay. I’m sure they’ll be happy to know that you find anger and hatred for this man who caused one of the greatest crises in recent human history to be tiring and that we should all just hold hands and be kind, including the people to whom Bush has never once bothered to extend this courtesy in all of the 8 years he was in office.
“The happiest people seem to be those who are kind to everyone and don’t get eaten up by hatred.”
Here’s the thing. I think people on the right tend to dismiss people with “hatred” for Trump as being hateful people, which couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact people here have often said something along the lines of “I don’t like finding myself in the position of loathing Trump so much because hatred is not in my nature.”
People who are compassionate and reasonable are so bothered by Trump because it’s really, really hard to see someone who doesn’t have those qualities, who is so truly hateful, be in such a powerful position.
Jon Lovett has a thoughtful take on this. Worth the read: https://twitter.com/jonlovett/status/1181582962581598208?s=21
The happiest people seem to be the ones who ignore everything that is going on around them and their contribution to it, and focus entirely on themselves and the people immediately in front of them.
THIS
Yes. If you’re able to just smile and be happy and nice to EVERYONE, I’m sorry, but you’re just not paying attention, and obviously privileged enough to not notice.
Exactly. And they are usually deeply bitter and con artists to boot.
Ellen has money, privilege, status. She’ll be friends with anyone in that same circle of life if it will help her own ends, no matter who gets hurt. She has no integrity and she’s mean.
THIS!
K, but George Warcriminal Shrub is stupid though. He’s f-cking stupid as all out. He’s f-cking stupid and a maliciously stupid individual at that. But I’m SURE LGBTQ Iraqis (who absolutely exist btw!!!!!) who lived through the unlawful occupation of their country truly appreciate Ellen doing her best to extend a bridge for a man who wouldn’t do the same for her.
@A thanks for reminding me of the beloved Molly Ivin’s & her Shrub moniker for The War Criminal Bush. Your points were spot on
Wasn’t she just the best? Such a shame she died when she did.
As long as people don’t experience consequences to their behaviour they are not going to change. George W. had some awful policies and the Republicans experienced that there are no real consequences to implementing the kind of policies that are designed to hurt and exclude people. That’s why you ended up with the politics you have now. Sean Spicer comes to mind. Jarett and Ivanka still end up being invited all over the place. Until they experience the consequences that decent people should deal out, nothing will ever change.
Totally agree Life is Cheese, your points are all great!!
I guess if that works for you, then you do you. To me, then, your friends aren’t really friends but acquaintances. I’m a liberal Democrat and my mom is a Republican Trump supporter. I love her and she loves me but it’s real tough. She made what she thought was a funny joke, comparing Obama to a monkey. I was appalled and when I said I was offended by it, she said, she said you don’t think it’s funny? I said no. On top of that, I’m married to a black man. I’m white. Mom says she loves him so much and I’m thinking he would hate you if he knew he said that. I didn’t tell him. We try to avoid politics but it always ends up coming out. And especially when your “friends” are supporting a racist, you need to call them out. Cause if they like his policies, they think like him and they are a racist. My mom is a racist. Just because she doesn’t use the n word, and “has black friends,” she’s still a racist. It’s time we as whites stop minimizing racism. Racism is sometimes subtle. I don’t get told not to be with a black man, I get dirty looks. Racism is subtle in many cases but its still racism. I’m a white woman who has many people say things in front of me, not knowing I have a black husband. As a white person, it is your duty to help those who are not as fortunate as us. Stand up and see what happens. Fuck your acquaintances, stand up for what’s right.
“Fuck your acquaintances, stand up for what’s right.” – THIS.
thank you.
There is a difference between a difference of opinions and sitting next to a person who has ruined many lives
Agreed. I think some heinous acts should never be forgotten or forgiven, but differing political views (in this example) shouldn’t be an excuse to completely shutdown when it comes to another human being. Surrounding yourself with people who completely agree with your every thought or feeling limits yourself.
But is it “unkind” not to act like BFFs? To be civil without sitting and joking together, then defending your friendship on national TV?
To me being kind = not wanting the death penalty or torture for criminals. I’m not chatting over nachos at a game, you know?
My personal belief system is to (aspire) to be compassionate towards everyone, no matter what they’ve done. But to me that means wishing they live with safety, health, and peace. That’s totally consistent with serving life in prison, and taking full responsibility for your actions. I don’t believe you can have any inner peace if you lie, deny, hate or obfuscate.
I find this so tearing. As in, it tears me apart. I don’t have the answers. I know that I am at the point where I cannot stomach being around my own trump supporting family members. The idea of being chummy with a trump supporter that isn’t family is unfathomable to me. I go out of my way not to be around them, and I will openly state why to anyone who asks. “Why didn’t you go to the event?”. Because you had a bunch of trump supporters attending and i don’t eat with them.
But…W is responsible for a tremendous amount of death and pain and suffering. So how’s that different? And then I think, hey, isn’t every president responsible for some death pain and suffering, including Obama who let’s not forget, did use drones? So is it just a difference of degree? You see what I mean here, you can really go down quite the rabbit hole.
So I try and keep it simple. I don’t do trump voters, I consider them monsters with no empathy who are actively causing harm to human beings. I think W is one of the worst presidents in history, and a literally awful human being. I wouldn’t eat with him, but I am not going to extend that to his supporters. I leave myself open to charges of hypocrisy on these things. But, aren’t we all hypocrites, about something or other?
You can’t stay mad forever. Either go to war or make peace- either way, a perpetual state of anger isn’t a solution
It is when people you are love are dead because of it. Period.
Forgiveness is for the oppressed to give to the oppressor, not the other way around EVER.
I’ll die mad at trump voters. You worry about yourself. I’ll take care of my business.
Don’t tone police other people’s emotions. People lost family members and loved ones in that war. People gave the right to be angry for as long as they want/need to be.
Yeah remember the happy people behind the civil rights movement? They were chuckling all the way down to Alabama.
The thing is – it’s one thing to be respectful to people who have different opinions, but it’s not quite the same as being friends with someone who actively removed rights from marginalized groups and committed war crimes when he was in power.
THIS THIS THIS. 100X, THIS!!!
No. There’s a difference between “disagreeing” with someone and destroying millions of lives through pointless wars and an absolutely atrocious response to a national disaster (Katrina). This man is a monster.
She’s from New Orleans and she should know better especially after his response to Katrina.
Oh you’re right. I’m so revved up on the war crimes and LGBTQ stuff, I forgot about Katrina. KATRINA.
I don’t expect her to start screaming at him or anything when in the same room, people generally try to act civilly in most situations, but FFS, she doesn’t have to go on and call him her friend and tell other people to be kind to monsters.
So, in general, I think this is a tough issue. If someone disagrees with you, and you want to change their mind, cutting them off isn’t the best method sometimes. And I think its important to NOT live in an echo chamber. But at the same time I cant be friends with someone who is homophobic, you know?
But, I think my issue with GWB is that so much of this chumminess towards him is normalizing him. (I think trump is helping with that too.) Its really easy to just remember him for being the folksy goofball president who slips Michelle Obama candy and forget about the “other stuff.” And he was a REALLY bad president. Just because he didn’t actively try to destroy our democracy doesn’t mean he wasn’t a bad president. And I think there should be room for that conversation. It shouldn’t be, well he and Michelle Obama get along so he must be okay! It can and should be more in depth than that.
*I also think that chumminess was a problem when he was president too. The whole “president I want to have a beer with” shtick helped to gloss over some of the atrocities of his administration.
Absolutely yes to everything you wrote here.
I agree in large part, but —arguably — GWB *did* make a hard end run around our democracy when he took his first term as a gift from SCOTUS thanks to Florida’s hanging chad. Still, if we’d had a President Al Gore, we probably wouldn’t have had a President Obama, and that would have been a crying shame.
Oh that’s true. I almost blame his father for that more than him though. Those Republicans have done a “good” job playing the long game with the courts.
But at least no one was worried that Bush wouldn’t leave office in 2005 if he had lost re-election?
OMG I cannot believe I just typed that.
Don’t know whether to laugh or weep, right?
Uhhh no. This isnt your conservative uncle at Thanksgiving. This is a man who lied about weapons of mass destruction to start a war that killed thousands of people. He also OPENLY campaigned to get Brett Kavanaugh confirmed. So yeah…miss me with this kumbayaaa “we should all be able to have different opinions” bs.
Exactly. I found Ellen’s oversimplification of this to be sort of insulting. She doesn’t care about Americans with different views being civil, she just wants to rationalize her chumminess with W.
I think she could have said that while she disagrees with his politics she wasn’t going to be rude to him. She didn’t need to do the whole “can’t we just all get along” stuff.
Exactly Nic.
But Nic, too- there’s “not being rude” vs. “partying in the VIP box at a game, goofing around over nachos & beer”
I think this is a good reminder that wealthy people have a lot more in common with each other than they do with “regular” people, regardless of their political affiliation. They all hang out in the same circles. GW took us to war under false pretenses and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Also, let us not forget about Guantanamo Bay. He is also currently lobbying senators to take away reproductive rights for women. The attempt to white wash his legacy is disgusting and I’ve lost a lot of respect for Ellen and anyone else that associates with him.
I think you are absolutely right. Wealth is the great commonality. It insulates a lot, even if you are from a traditionally marginalized group, as Ellen most definitely is. Class interest will always coalesce to preserve itself. Disgusting, I guess the residents of New Orleans and Baghdad just don’t have the bank account to earn her sympathy, right?
It’s simple. Like protects like. Always. Their bubble is nestled all snug.
yeah, the fact that she even accepted an invitation to sit in Jerry Jones’ box is kind of gross.
that dude is a bigot and a 45 supporter.
Wow, I didn’t know that. This looks very bad for Ellen imo. What a hypocrite.
Exactly. Which is also why despite everything Ivanka Trump will be sitting in the exact same chair with a similar person in 15 years time. All is always forgiven for white rich people.
A war criminal is a war criminal is a war criminal
YUP!!!
Fun fact: the W in George W. Bush stands for Warcriminal
I think that “cancel culture” has a place. Many times the people canceled are those with outrageous privilege (fame, respect, prestige, wealth) and when they show themselves to be doing despicable things with the fame, wealth, etc. that we often *helped them to get,* we should refrain from supporting them with our money, attention, etc. There are too many good people waiting to get their shot in the sun to keep supporting those who can’t be bothered to care for the common man – or at least their own reputation. Doing otherwise only encourages people to think that their “great and unmatched wisdom” is more valuable than obeying the law or even just being a decent person.
Privilege gets cancelled. I have no regrets. Forgiveness has its place for those who show repentance and reform over time, but a return of privilege is not an entitlement.
I watched her slick feel-good speech and…nah.
Bush continues to be the luckiest undeserving son of a bitch.
The smartest thing he did was just to go away and then come out in the open when this Putrid Prostate stole an election (his kind of people, honestly). Trump made his rehab happen. Trust, if things were different than they are now, memories would not be so short.
Celebrities often thread a fine line between being friends and being allies. It’s a very promiscuous context, the celeb creme de la creme isn’t it? I personally think Bush has changed in many ways and in many others hasn’t. And I am pretty sure his friendship with the Obamas and others was instrumental to that. If we antagonise, we do not teach or open up people’s minds. I think that movements can oppose (like black lives matter and extinction rebellion) but on a personal level it is not as clever to antagonise. Keep your enemies close, they may become friends, and might even change their minds. I often think of Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson for instance. Friendship is sometimes a difficult conundrum.
However, with age I find myself having less and less trouble speaking my mind. It is wise to choose when to talk and especially how but it is important.
How exactly has Bush changed? Because from my memory, I never heard an apology for the Iraq war or the torture he inflicted. I also seem to recall him calling his Republican buddies just last year and asking them to vote for Kavanaugh.
Yes, he still thinks and does horrible things that I definitely do not agree with. In the case of Trump, there really is no talking to him as he does not know how to listen. But Bush comes across as someone who listens – and he opposed Trump if I am not mistaken.
What I think is that Ellen missed an opportunity here to try to explain how she finds strength in reaching out to people who she doesn’t agree with or who would even deny certain of her rights. We could – and I think we need – to learn how to do that. I am trying. It’s hard. But after a few years, the cancelling culture is like slapping a child – it’s just for the relief of the cancelling person but it doesn’t affect the targeted person. We need other ways of being militant.
Bush may not like Trump, but he sure as hell liked his SC nominee–a man who will strip rights away from women, LGBQT and people of color. And not to mention being accused of multiple sexual assaults.
And this is not about cancelling a celebrity because they blurted out a racial slur on their Instagram stories. This is about a man whose policies affect the ENTIRE WORLD. And the aftermath of those policies is still negatively affecting the world today.
And if Ellen wants to reach out to people, perhaps she can start with her own community who are terrified of that the SCOTUS decision will be and if they’ll still have jobs. And maybe she can tells more jokes about how she’s BFFs with a man who was more than eager to support stripping rights away from gay and trans people. Then again, no matter what happens, she’ll be fine. She’ll continue to collect her million dollar checks for having a show where someone sneaks up behind Zach Efron and says “boo”.
Lolol. You are comparing W to Mel Gibson’s drunken rants?? Talk about a false equivalency…
@Snowslow
I agree. This is a gossip site. We will never know how these people are behind closed doors. None of us truly ever know anyone so it’s hard to cancel people. If we cancel them, how do any of us learn from our mistakes?
I appreciate this post because I genuinely am curious about opinions on this but it’s also completely different for these people with such massive wealth. It seems they are are all dogs that have a flea somwehere.
This may be a gossip site but W was POTUS who was and should be held up to a higher standard than Mel f-cking Gibson. And the fact that people keep comparing the two is rather sick IMO. W sent thousands of men and women to die but sure…he’s probably REALLY NICE in private. 🙄
The comparisons of people aren’t great. I believe Ellen’s were quite telling with the way she described friends who wear fur, etc. It seems those are things everyday people can relate to, dancing around the glaring misdeeds and corruption of those in her immediate company. Us plebians think about these things. Most of us I truly hope. She is extremely wealthy and doesn’t care.
It’s interesting that she would say this today. Because right now, there is a case in the Supreme Court arguing whether it’s legal to fire LGBT employees because they are gay/trans. So currently there are millions on people terrified that their rights will be stripped away and that their financial lives could be ruined. And who was the President that stood before the nation and declared that the United Stated need a Constitutional ban on gay marriage? Who appointed conservative judges to the Supreme Court and supported Kavanaugh? Obviously we know that answer, but Ellen’s is aligning herself with a man who made it his main agenda to deny basic human rights to her own community. But hey, she’s a millionaire, so it’s not like she’ll suffer one bit. She’s not going to lose her job. And I haven’t even touch on all the people who died in the Iraq war. Or how Bush was A-Okay with torturing other human beings.
Also, how interesting that she cracks a joke about a whistle blower when she’s sitting in Jerry Jones box, a man who is a Trump supporter and contributed money to his campaign. Her flippant and dismissive attitude about this is really telling. Once again, her it concrete proof that rich, white people will always protect each other.
Jerry Jones is a pretty obvious racist, too.
I’m for forgiveness but that doesn’t mean you have to welcome people like this into the fold. Normalizing Behavior like this is part of the reason why we’re in the mess we’re in now. You can disassociate from someone without necessarily canceling someone. You also don’t have to be rude to someone you don’t like. Just do not associate. Ever.
I don’t think associating is normalising. If anything, her sitting next to him is sparking a debate, not only here but elsewhere. What I would have loved is for her to address specific issues where their opinions and stances differ and that she would keep having the conversation. But of course that wasn’t said.
As a gay person, I say bullsh*t. Things like like black lives matter, or women’s rights, lgbtq rights are literally life or death. Sorry if Ellen would rather be “kind”, but sometimes the right choices are uncomfortable. Any effective movement for change – from the Suffragettes to the Black Panthers to Actup – knew this, which is why they confronted people and got something done.
thank you for this.
I try to be an ally to marginalized communities, and to see Ellen normalizing someone who is literally on the side against so many of the people that I love makes me angry.
“agree to disagree?” nope, because what we disagree on is the existence and basic human rights of my friends. so GFY.
ValiantlyVarnished, I’m with you. But Bush has benefited a lot by his interaction with the Supreme Court, not only helping to get Kavanagh on it, but by being appointed President of the U.S. by his “favorite” supreme, Scalia. ‘Cause he sure as hell wasn’t elected. Also, as a high schooler, Laura Bush killed a classmate she knew in a car accident that was not investigated as a driving while impaired issue. Look it up. Because if that were Hillary, she’d have been in prison or never allowed to live it down, as Laura has so gracefully done. Also, thank Bush when Row v. Wade is overturned. Be less friendly to him, Ellen!
She’s just saying that because she has privileges as a celebrity and don’t want to change her behavior. It’s easier to just be friendly with everyone just in case.
She’s in her rights to be friends with whomever she pleases, but she’s not being consistent.
GR, agree TOTALLY!!!
It’s one thing to be friendly with people that have other beliefs. It’s a completely different thing being friendly with a war criminal like G.W Bush.
Obviously, when you’re above a certain financial level, this is nothing. When you have enough money, power, and privilege, you’re no longer any sort of race or gender or sexuality, you’re just “rich person” and you’re friends with other rich people and you can actually sit there and be friends with them and attend a wedding at the same table as Ivanka Trump or sit next to Bush at a football game and you literally don’t worry about it all, unless you’re called out on it and you have to make some ridiculous justification for it. It’s goes both ways-some of these conservative leaders are totally racist and homophobic and misogynistic-how can they pal around with a lesbian and her wife? It’s the “I’m not black, I’m OJ” thing-they have enough power and privilege, they transcend labels. They’re one of “the good ones.”
Basically, Ellen should have said “We’re friends because we’re rich and we literally never talk about anything other than our wives and dogs and tbh idgaf about optics.” It would have been honest at least.
Re: OJ, EXACTLY. People always cited him when white people getting away w murder is mentioned. But all OJ’S connections and wealth outweighed the disadvantage of being black. One rare example is an exception, not the rule.
Ellen is friends with his daughter Jenna so I’m not surprised by this but the optics of her at the game make me wonder if this was encouraged to open up more support for them so people will forget things like him calling many to support Brett kavanaugh for supreme Court.
This just reminds me of people who are against same sex marriage then say ‘oh but I don’t hate gay people’ sure but you don’t think they should have the same rights as you.
No, I will not be kind to war criminals.
I don’t care WHO YOU ARE…
You cape for George W. Bush…
I have NO USE FOR YOU…because you have proven that you don’t care about me…mines…democracy…
PERIOD!
I’m not going to cancel Ellen for sitting next to Bush anymore than I’m going to cancel Kim K for working with Trump to help people. If you wish to, go ahead. I choose to live my life differently. I have friends and family on both sides. I love them more than my ideology.
She’s a lovely person and correct that we should be kind to EVERYONE. If we all practiced this, we would be in better shape as a country and happier in general. Kindness is contagious.
Is he a war criminal? I think so. I also know I would be civil if I met him. I’m not sure why the outrage at Ellen but Michelle Obama sharing sweets and giggling with him is cute from the same folks decrying this.
Lolol. This comment is particularly funny to me because Ellen has a reputation behind the scenes of being far from kind OR a lovely in fact she herself has admitted as much in interviews. Don’t automatically believe the personas people choose to present to you.
And the reason why the outrage is different for Ellen and Michelle is because Michelle had no choice in dealing with W. Every picture if them is from official Presidential events. Not extracurricular activities.
Interesting quote from one of the people that I respect most in this world, Michelle Obama: “Party doesn’t separate us, color, gender, those kinds of things don’t separate us,” Obama said of their friendship and the message it sends. “If we’re the adults and the leaders in the room and we’re not showing that level of decency, we cannot expect our children to do the same … I think about the next generation, every single time.”
But yes, you are correct when you say that they are almost nearly always together b/c of Presidential events.
LMAO
you have not a clue what Ellen is really like. You seem to think what you seen being portrayed = is real & genuine.
This is a class issue to me. The rich stick together. Plain and simple….
I loathe Bush and don’t like Ellen anyway.
Call this what it is. Class solidarity. The rich will always look the other way when it comes to other rich folks.
“Not being angry” about the marginalization of entire groups of human beings is a luxury purchased with privilege.
I have many friends that do not understand why I do not all-out hate Jeff Bezos.
It is difficult for me to hate someone who hates Trump as much as I do and has the power, that I do not have, to help bring Chump down.
With regards to George W. Bush, after Trump, “W” no longer appears to be the worst out there in Repube land.
Good for Ellen. We need to stop being offending my by everything as a culture and being so divisive. People can have different belief systems and still get along. So tired of this “cancellation syndrome.”
“People can have different belief systems and still get along”
As long as they aren’t killing and hurting ppl you know, right?
Sounds about white.
“We need to stop being offending my by everything as a culture and being so divisive.”
yeah, I can’t imagine why people are offended by a gay icon like Ellen being friendly to a war criminal like W. someone who advocated to get a rapist confirmed for the supreme court. someone who ignored the horrors of post-Katrina New Orleans because the people suffering didn’t have white skin. someone who fabricated evidence of WMD to get his “Avenge Daddy!” war going. IN THE WRONG COUNTRY.
please see my post above about having different beliefs. this is not about thinking national health care is a good idea or not. this is about a man who doesn’t see people who are friends of mine as worthy of protection due to their skin color, or gender identity.
to paraphrase Rick James, privilege is a hell of a drug.
You’re right. I can’t imagine why any Muslim person who was falsely accused of terrorism, carted off by the CIA to a black site and tortured, and then dumped on the side of the road unceremoniously after it turned out that they had made a clerical error and unlawfully detained the wrong man, would EVER be offended that anyone wanted to give George W. Bush an inch of room to rehabilitate his image! Sheesh, people really do go too far with this cancel culture bullsh-t don’t you think? We should all just stop getting offended so much, it’s just a bit of government sanctioned unlawful detention and waterboarding!
“We need to stop being offended by everything as a culture…” Cried a submissive lady who gets offended by others being critical of things that are unambiguously hateful, abusive, and divisive. ☕
Some of the comments on here show how much white women’s ignorance is still a BIG problem. Embarrassing.
“why cant we all just be nice to each other?” = “I have *never* been personally affected bc I’m a white woman & I’m tired of PoC whining”
I don’t think that’s true. I can’t say that I have the exact stance of the kind people, but I get that there are people out there who truly want to just get along and like to see people cross boundaries and embrace each other. I wish I could forgive more (that doesn’t necessarily mean you forget..), I don’t get along with half of my family right now because of politics.
But please, quit generalizing, everyone is entitled to their own feelings without being piled on that they are stupid or a racist. I would be willing to bet, or at least I hope, that most of the people on here blasting behind their keyboards would be a little more tactful and show a little more kindness when dealing with each other face to face, no matter what the opinion.
I think about this too when it gets so feverish around these parts. Would commenters be so harsh and impulsive to one another face to face? We all have opinions but we can also be respectful.
I think a lot of it is from white people who have not been around POC very much. I literally grew up in a small town w one POC family. I had no idea how bad racism is until I became an adult and started working with POC and eventually dating POC. It wasn’t until I started dating my black husband that I realized how much internalized racism I had. But the key imo is listening to POC. But when white people are just surrounded by other whites, they frequently echo each other and back each other up, saying that they’re right.
Listening has become a relic like reading am I right? It’s a damn shame.
Just want to point out that there is a difference between Trump and Bush.
Bush has been never trump from the get go, and while a lot of his policies I disagree with, he is NOT trump.
And I’d also like to point out that his wife Laura, has been vocally pro-choice and all around awesome since he’s been in office.
You’re right. He’s not Trump. He’s WAY worse.
And as far as Laura Bush, her being pro-choice ****really**** helped when her husband was dialing up Republican support for Kavanaugh!
If your sole selling point for yourself as a human being is that hey, at least you’re not Trump, then that doesn’t say that much about you as a person at all.
His wife’s opinions are meaningless. She is not a politician. She doesn’t set his agenda. Barbara Bush also supposedly disagreed with her husband on a great many things. She also probably agreed with a great many of his despicable views too.
I gave her the benefit of the doubt yesterday thinking maybe she just happened to be seated next to him and it was out of her control, but nah she blew that now. This is just pure out of touch rich white privilege.
It’s sad how so many white LGBT people put their whiteness above everything and take advantage of their white privilege but then they say they can’t be racist etc because they are not straight
I’m going to take her advice and be kind to all comments who are different from mine. I hear you, but I feel cancelling loses its impact when we cancel too much. Plus, we are just in a tunnel of our own thinking, and this isn’t a good thing for anyone. It’s definitely a bit of a slippery slope as Kaiser was saying, and each person draws their own lines. I see George W. is one for some people on here, but not necessarily all. I say this in all my slight whiteness, as I am arabic. Which I believe is only white on the US Census.
People who, by virture of their power, wealth, race, immigration status, sexual orientation or gender identity, have the privilege of being immune to the bigoted policies and laws enacted by the likes of Bush and Trump do not get to tell the people who are harmed by these laws and policies to get over it or to accept “differences.”
Maybe it’s like the banality of evil, someone can do absolutely terrible things, but seem harmless in person. I saw Kissinger once — a stooped old man looking for the buffet table — and thought, wow, Hannah Arendt was right…
Ellen is absolutely right! We can be friends with people responsible for the death and destruction of countless lives! The Duke of York has shown that we can be friends with convicted sex offenders who abuse children because sex offenders are people too! Let’s all sing “Kumbaya…..”
Making policy that lead to the death and destruction of people’s lives is not a freaking difference of opinion. Have some freaking integrity. Some people would rather be close to power at any cost, and maybe that’s why she’s commercially successful. But soulless, spineless, banal in an evil, blind way. As politics and opinion weren’t personal.
You don’t have to be friendly to everyone. Gah.
I made several comments earlier that didn’t go through, so I’ll try to tone down my anger and frustration and express myself a little more coherently. But to anyone who still wants to defend George W. Bush as the latest casualty of “cancel culture” and how we should all reach across the aisle to people who disagree with us, I just want to say this: his “disagreement” with the opposing viewpoint resulted in the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi civilians. His “disagreement” devastated an entire country that has still not recovered from the instability he caused. His “different opinion” regarding things like torture gave the green light for such horrific abuses that if he were the tin pot dictator of a lesser country, he’d have been sent to the Hague on war crime charges so fast his head would spin.
His simple difference of opinion had actual, real victims. His difference of opinion has a body count. It’s not quirky. It’s not funny. It’s not cute. So I want to ask this (and I genuinely hope my comment gets through this time): what should the victims of his “different opinion” do? Or do they not deserve any accountability? From anyone? Because somehow, from what I’ve seen, people who suffered as a result of his policies, who lost their lives, the lives of their families and loved ones as a result of his disastrous foreign policy alone, don’t seem to get a voice. They don’t seem to factor much into these romantic notions of how we should all get along. How exactly does one “get along” with a man whose “difference of opinion” resulted in tragedy?
This is why yelling about “cancel culture” is fruitless. For one thing, Ellen is not going to see real consequences. This is a world where Louis CK is selling out his come back tour. The least people can do is not clutch their pearls about the fact that some of us are choosing to protect ourselves from becoming yet another casualty of these mere differences in opinion.
Also, if the worst that can happen to any of these people is that they are liked a little less as a result of showing their a–, then I’d argue that there’s really no cancelling happening here at all.