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Ellen DeGeneres is under fire for her social distancing jokes. The talk show host is getting some backlash for likening social distancing to jail time while she recorded in her million-dollar California mansion.
“One thing that I’ve learned from being in quarantine is that people- this is like being in jail, is what it is,” DeGeneres said.
“It’s mostly because I’ve been wearing the same clothes for 10 days and everyone in here is gay. The jokes that I have. I feel bad for the kids at home, all the college students, all the parents. I feel bad for a lot of people. But I think that a lot of people out there need words of encouragement, and that’s what I want to do. I want to spread light where there’s shade.”
People did not love that DeGeneres compared having to stay inside her and wife, Portia De Rossi’s, mansion to being in jail.
‘This is like being in jail’……how full of yourself do you have to be to think sitting on your arse in your mansion is somehow anything like jail?” One commenter on YouTube asked. “I think someone needs a bloody reality check.”
Audrey Maxam from Ohio tweeted, “Oh the jokes that you have…. my son is in prison facing a chance of Coronavirus infecting him. Yep it’s such a joke.”
“Being a privileged super wealthy white lady “stuck” in a mansion is not “like jail”, this comparison is not funny it is disgusting,” @SalivaGlance tweeted.
According to New York City’s Department of Corrections, 287 inmates and 406 staffers in the city’s jails have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Tuesday. Seven department members have died along with the first inmate at Rikers Island.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show had to halt production due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but DeGeneres has been continuing to entertain her viewers through videos on social media. She’s even phoned some famous friends for her audience, including Jennifer Aniston, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend.
Other talk shows now broadcasting from home include Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show: At Home Edition and Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show.
