Ellen DeGeneres Criticized For Comparing Self-Isolation to Prison
Celebrity

Ellen DeGeneres Criticized For Comparing Self-Isolation to Prison

Ellen DeGeneres is facing online backlash for comparing her self-isolation experience to being in prison.

Yesterday, DeGeneres filmed a new episode of her namesake talk show from her house, where she's been quarantining for the past few weeks alongside wife Portia de Rossi. And though she began by praising health care workers and making a to-be-expected gag about toilet paper, the segment quickly went downhill from there.

Related | How to Help Incarcerated People During COVID-19

"This is like being in jail," DeGeneres joked. "Mostly because I've been wearing the same clothes for 10 days, and everyone in here is gay."

Needless to say, in between the gay prison reference and the fact that DeGeneres is supposedly at her $27 million dollar mansion, many were quick to call out the tone-deaf bit.

"I cannot believe the Bish actually said, 'this is what it's like being in jail.' Believe me, GITMO is a lot worse, Ellen," as one user wrote, while another person added, "Ellen's jail is a mansion and she is free to move about it, eat well and be with her wife. Gay jokes about prison ain't funny either."

Not only that, but as many others pointed out, comparing her self-isolation to being in jail — where many inmates are at a high risk of exposure due to the lack of protective supplies and an inability to practice social distancing — made DeGeneres' joke all the more messed up.

"Prisoners are going to die in disproportionate numbers because ppl only see them as sub-humans deserving violence or punchlines for stupid jokes," as Vice's Edward Ongweso Jr. tweeted. "Ellen lives in an 8,188 sq foot home w 8+ acres of land. there is no place on her ESTATE that could ever remotely resemble a prison."

DeGeneres has yet to respond to the backlash.

Photo via Getty

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