Former US President George W. Bush has responded to comments made by Ellen DeGeneres about hanging out together on Sunday afternoon to watch a football game.
Bush’s spokesperson Freddy Ford told Fox yesterday, “President and Mrs Bush really enjoyed being with Ellen and Portia [de Rossi] and appreciated Ellen’s comments about respecting one another. They respect her.”
DeGeneres and wife de Rossi sat next to Bush and his wife, Laura, in a VIP suite at a Dallas Cowboys game.
Photos of DeGeneres and the former President talking and laughing with one another prompted much comment on social media, with many outraged that DeGeneres, a high-profile lesbian, and liberal Hollywood figure, appeared to enjoy spending time with Republican Bush.
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Related: Ellen DeGeneres defends “fun” afternoon with “friend” George W. Bush
Yesterday, on The Ellen Show, DeGeneres addressed the issue. She explained how she and de Rossi came to be in the VIP stand (they were invited by Charlotte Jones, daughter of Jerry Jones, who owns the Cowboys).
She then went on to say, “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.
“For instance, I wish people wouldn’t wear fur. I don’t like it but I’m friends with people who wear fur … 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 as you do. I mean be kind to everyone.”
She ended by thanking George and Laura Bush for a “fun” afternoon.
Related: Twitter users aren’t forgiving Ellen DeGeneres for forgiving Kevin Hart
During his time as President, George W. Bush opposed same-sex marriage and during his 2004 re-election campaign suggested introducing a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
He also defended the US military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy to keep serving members of the military in the closet. Many regard him as a ‘war criminal’ for the US-led invasion of Iraq which resulted in thousands losing their lives.
Bush’s appreciation for DeGeneres is unlikely to quell debate about the two’s afternoon together. DeGeneres’ tweet and video posted late Monday night has now had over 338k likes and prompted over 20,000 comments. Many welcome her call for tolerance but many others are angry.
DeGeneres faced similar criticism earlier in the year when she defended the comedian Kevin Hart and suggested he should host the Oscars. This was despite him being dropped from the event over homophobic comments he’d made earlier in his career.
Yes, that was me at the Cowboys game with George W. Bush over the weekend. Here’s the whole story. pic.twitter.com/AYiwY5gTIS
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) October 8, 2019
JessPH
I hope that Ellen Degeneres realizes that if her friend Dubya got what he wanted, she won’t be able to marry Portia. Ever.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Rimshot!!!!
OzJosh
You can shun everybody who opposed marriage equality and leave them feeling their opposition was correct. Or you can be kind like Ellen and show them that your loving marriage is as good as theirs, and possibly change their minds. Put another way: you can be a miserable vengeful bitch, or you can live and let live.
Ronbo
Measure people by what they do. Bush fails that humanity test. Starting wars that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people puts you in the corner … permanently.
FameHos and enablers aren’t going to give you a free and clear new start. Being friends and holding hands with the 9/11 Saudi terrorists is proof that there is a long way for Bush to go for redemption. The first step is to tell the truth and we have not seen that in a long, long time.
Just image if Bush had spent those war trillion$ on education and energy independence from dirty oil! Maybe we’d not have all the blowback terrorism, climate change and poverty.
rray63
Do we say the same things about our own party that voted to go to these other countries? Or do we become hypocrites. From what I have read it’s the latter. Something to think about.
Cam
“”Bush’s spokesperson Freddy Ford told Fox yesterday, “President and Mrs Bush really enjoyed being with Ellen and Portia [de Rossi] and appreciated Ellen’s comments about respecting one another. They respect her.””
They respect her…..Just not her marriage, her family, her wife, their civil rights, and their lives together.
WillParkinson
Oh, how I wish I could upvote this.
VaJohn
Although I consider myself to be an “Independent “, politically, I tend to vote Democratic. I didn’t like George as President, but I’d prefer 8 more years of George, than another day of Donald, or Mike!
Kangol2
Oh, I don’t know about that. Drumpf is the absolute worst ever in terms of treasonous behavior and sheer incompetence, but W lurched from one catastrophe to another, including:
9/11, the Enron collapse, the anthrax attacks, the disastrous tax cuts, illegal spying on Americans, the Iraq War, Halliburton’s corruption during the War, repeated anti-gay legislation and numerous anti-gay judges appointed to the courts, Jack Abramoff scandal, multiple Benghazi-style attacks on US embassies, Gannongate, Memogate, Scooter Libby’s conviction, Hurricane Katrina’s disastrous aftermath, massive deficits and debt, and topping it off, the worst economic and financial collapse since the Great Depression of the 1930s and 40s.
Be careful what you wish for….
Aires the Ram
Three Cheers for Ellen for saying the MUCH NEEDED statement: “For instance, I wish people wouldn’t wear fur. I don’t like it but I’m friends with people who wear fur … 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 as you do. I mean be kind to everyone.”
I’m not a huge fan of Ellen’s, but she sure does deserve kudos for saying this, for pushing back against the leftist mob.
Goforit
I am so happy that you have taken Ellen’s words to heart and will be defending your friendships with the “leftist mob”. Are you even able to recognize the irony of your statement? (Or the sarcasm in mine?)
jkb
War criminal says what?
AxelDC
In 2004, W ran on a Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage. Congress twice brought up the amendment under his urgings. If it had passed, gay marriage would have been illegal for the rest of our lives and beyond. Only 13 small states could block our rights forever.
RIGay
The absolute saddest part is; compared to the braying jackass that currently resides in the White House, W seems like an elder statesman…
enlightenone
Ellen comparing apples and oranges to try to invalidate the understandable outage. That said, it would have been sensible to say, although it is a challenge and even PAINFUL to many across the sexual orientation spectrum, it’s good to be “kind!”
JaredMacBride
What did people want her to do, run screaming from the box? Nothing will change if all people do is yell at each other.
Cam
Translation: LGBT people should smile and eat sh*t because it’s our job to make bigots feel comfortable.
loveislove
It’s not our job to do anything but live our lives. However, spreading love and kindness makes living much more enjoyable than wallowing in hate, anger and resentment. There’s a reason why both MIchelle Obama and Ellen are so positive, happy and successful. What you focus on in life is exactly what you’ll find.
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Patrick
Well said OzJosh! People can evolve, & the best way to achieve that, is by meeting & getting to know people of different views, with different lives.
Bellerophon69
People diss Bush for his performance as President, and rightly so, but let’s use another example of a lousy President (no, not Dumbshit Donnie); Jimmy Carter. Carter’s economic policies were shear DISASTER (and I come from a family of Democrats who totally agree on this), his Energy Policy sucked and he shirked the EPA on his desire to double coal usage, and his Foreign Policy (SALT 2 and Camp David Accord, two major successes not withstanding) was weak and myopic regarding the Iran situation in particular. People (like my family) lost farms due to his reversal of decades old policies, but he didn’t start any wars and he did tacitly approve of Gay rights, so we view him as a Hero, which in 1980 obviously not many did. Much of what happened under Bush 43 was because he was hijacked by the PNAC Cabinet, I think he and Carter shared the same problem and in time will share a softened viewpoint; they were both weak in Office, but if you look at Bush 43 post-Presidency he’s not such a bad guy. He opposes Trumps Immigration Policies (he even has an Immigration Institute trying to do positive things in that direction he never gets credit for), and even though he publicly stated he was for the Gay marriage Ban, we might view him differently at the time if he had went public with his statement “I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays.”. Who knows, maybe Ellen will bring him over to activism FOR Gays. My point is, very few people are black and white (Trumps all Evil, so he doesn’t count), and Jimmy was a “Zero” in 1980 but has redeemed himself maybe Bush 43 might do the same.
Cam
Except in 2004 Bush tried to change the U.S. Constitution to outlaw LGBT marriage…forever at a Federal level.
Terrycloth
Ellen isn’t as kind as you think she is. Ask her staff
loveislove
Of course not, she’s human after all and I’m sure running her show etc is extremely stressful. But the most important thing is that she tries…
MikeM
I’ve heard the same. She also refused to say anything about Joan Rivers’ passing, despite the fact that Joan broke down barriers for women comedians on television. Ellen thought Joan was “mean.” So, it’s okay to start wars based on bogus information, have your minions try to ruin the person who let the world know the information was bogus, ignore her hometown of New Orleans, have a Vice President who left his own lesbian daughter out hanging, etc… and treat him with kindness? But to pay tribute to Joan? That was too much to ask of this hypocrite.