ELLEN DEGENERES RESPONDS TO BACKLASH OVER HER FRIENDLINESS WITH GEORGE W. BUSH (VIDEO):
“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,” Ellen said. “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,” DeGeneres continued. “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.”
And despite being a Packers fan and a friend of Aaron Rodgers, DeGeneres told her audience, “I love the Cowboys. I love all the Village People, as a matter of fact.”
Heh. In today’s era of cancel culture and Maoist struggle sessions (which is why DeGeneris very likely felt compelled to issue the above statement in the first place), it’s definitely a welcome sentiment from a Hollywood superstar with a huge following. But as Kira Davis writes at Red State, “Ellen is being hailed for her ‘open-minded’ plea for civility, as if the rest of us haven’t been living our lives like this every single day. I live in California. My friend pointed out that Ellen’s ‘revelation’ is just everyday life for those of us here who don’t identify as rabidly progressive:”
I’m black, and I work in and around the entertainment business. Every day, everywhere I go people freely and gleefully throw their progressive politics at me. They’re not lecturing. They’re just…assuming. They’re looking at my skin and assuming I’m a liberal, assuming I need a safe space from Big Orange Bad Man, assuming I agree with their every liberal notion on everything from homelessness to public education. They unflinchingly disparage people who didn’t vote for who they think we all should have voted for. They insult flyover country conservatives, Trump supporters, or just anyone who doesn’t loudly and proudly toe the far-left progressive line.
And in the entertainment business in California, if you push back against these tirades, you’ve just blacklisted yourself — as the original title of Roger Simon’s 2009 autobiography was called.
UPDATE: As self-identified liberal Dave Rubin tweets, lots of people are sharing the above video clip, “but missing the broader point. Yes, Ellen and GWB can agree to disagree, great. The bigger issue is the only people who can’t do that these days are woke progressives. No conservative, libertarian or true liberal was upset by this. It’s not a two way street.”