Ellen DeGeneres addressed the backlash she received after she was spotted laughing with former President George W. Bush at a Dallas Cowboys football game against the Green Bay Packers in Dallas, Texas. Photos circulated of the pair sitting together in the owner’s suite, which prompted some on social media to question why she would be hanging out with the former president, whose politics run counter to hers.

DeGeneres said in a clip from the Ellen DeGeneres Show, “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.’”

Rather than focusing on the negative, DeGeneres shared a positive tweet that read, “Ellen and George Bush together makes me have faith in America again.”

“Here’s the thing: I’m friends with George Bush,” she explained of the former president, who was previously a guest on her show in 2017. “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.”

“For instance, I wish people wouldn’t wear fur. I don’t like it, but I’m friends with people who wear fur. 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 mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone.”

Source:

Althea Legaspi, “Ellen DeGeneres Addresses Backlash Against Friendship With George W. Bush: ‘Be Kind.’” Rolling Stone (10-8-19)