Ellen Pompeo Racist? ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Actress #AllTheBabiesAreBrown Hashtag Sparks Racial Debate
Ellen Pompeo’s Instagram comment section is a mess, following her decision to add what some people have interpreted to be a divisive hashtag to one of her posts. On Saturday, as the events of the Charlottesville white nationalist riots were unfolding, Ellen posted a photo of her daughters, which she captioned, “When people don’t realize this is the future…#whereisthelove #allthebabiesarebrown.”
As the mother of half-black children, the Grey’s Anatomy star’s post was likely meant to be interpreted as a show of solidarity with diverse groups in this country. However, the response has definitely been mixed. In the three days that it’s been up, the post has racked up thousands of comments from people who support her message, and just as many from those that don’t.
Some commenters commended Ellen for speaking out against the white supremacist ideology that inspired the Charlottesville riots. If you scroll through the legions of comments on the post, you’ll see words like “woke” and “great example” to describe Ellen. Other users expressed their desire to see more celebrities speak out and use their platforms for important issues like Ellen has.
However, some users felt that by endorsing “brown” babies, Ellen Pompeo was saying that non-brown babies weren’t as important.
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They also questioned what Ellen Pompeo thought about babies of other shades. Were they not the future as well? And what did Ellen exactly mean by “brown” babies in the first place? Just those that are bi-racial? Or does that include all people of color? The users on that side of the argument threw out words like “racist” and “ignorant” to describe the actress.
??Eli Christopher?? Chris Ivery just fell a notch.. I’ve got a new guy
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User, @ademossesness wrote, “babies of all different colors are the future. That’s what makes us so diverse. One race is not superior and everyone is equally important.”
It wasn’t all non-Black people either who felt slighted by Ellen’s post either. User @girlygirl_2233 wrote, “And if the future is ‘brown’ where does that leave monoracial black people?'”
Some commenters did tread on the neutral ground. Some of her followers just appreciated how incredibly cute Ellen’s children are.
“Love this! Two beautiful children!” wrote, @lastlazgirlstanding.
At the end of the day, only Ellen Pompeo knows what she truly meant by her post, but we’d like to know what you think she meant. Add your thoughts to the comment section below.
[Featured Image by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]
