‘I’m friends with George,’ Ellen says
Emmy-winning host defends watching NFL game alongside EX-GOP president
A few minutes into the second quarter of Sunday’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers, TV cameras at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, cut to owner Jerry Jones’ exclusive suite. Many viewers were perplexed by what they saw.
Sitting side-by-side in black padded seats with prime views of the cavernous stadium were former Republican president George W. Bush and liberal television host Ellen Degeneres, an outspoken LGBT activist. The pair was joined by their spouses, former first lady Laura Bush and Australian actress and model Portia de Rossi. At one point, Degeneres and Bush were caught on camera sharing a laugh.
But it wasn’t long before confusion transformed into outrage as detractors slammed Degeneres over appearing to share friendly exchanges with a president who started the Iraq War and once endorsed a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage.
The intense outcry prompted Degeneres to take time address her relationship with Bush on her show. In a joke-filled monologue airing Tuesday, Degeneres defended her interactions with the former president and urged people to “be kind to everyone.” Bush was a guest on Degeneres’s show in 2017.
“During the game, they showed a shot of George and me laughing together, and so people were upset,” the host said in an advance clip shared to social media late Monday. “They thought, ‘Why is a gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative Republican president?’”
She later added: “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 OK that we’re all different.”
By early Tuesday, the roughly four-minute video had been watched more than two million times across Twitter and Youtube.
While some applauded Degeneres for putting aside her political differences, critics argued that the segment illustrated her privilege, sparking a fresh round of backlash Monday night.
Degeneres explained that she and de Rossi were invited by Jones’ daughter, Charlotte Jones Anderson, who is also a Cowboys executive. One of Anderson’s unofficial duties is working with her mother, Gene Jones, to decide which guests will join them in the coveted seats on the 50-yard-line, The New York Times reported in 2015.
According to the Times, the goal is to fill the box with a “diverse crowd.” And for Gene Jones, the “task that concerns and vexes her like no other” is the seating chart.
“We went because we wanted to keep up with the Joneses,” Degeneres quipped. “His suite is fancy, and he’s got fancy friends. I don’t mean fancy like Real Housewives fancy — I mean, like, fancy.”
The television host then played a video she shot from her seat that captured Bush making a funny face and laughing, drawing loud cheers from her studio audience.
In the aftermath of Sunday’s game, however, the sight of Degeneres and Bush together sparked a different reaction online. The two appeared next to each other on Fox’s game broadcast several times, The Fort Worth Star-telegram reported.
The Advocate and Out Magazine, both LGBT news organizations, published articles Monday that highlighted Bush’s push in 2004 for a constitutional amendment that would have prohibited marriage equality. Several critics pointed out that the amendment was a wedge issue in the then-president’s reelection campaign, contrasting his stance with Degeneres’ activism.
“As one of America’s most visible (and powerful) queer celebrities, Ellen pal’ing around with those who have actively tried to harm us feels disappointing, irresponsible, and dangerous,” Rose Dommu wrote in Out Magazine.
The Washington Post