Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscar Selfie Spoofed By Turkish Protestors

Back on Oscar night, Ellen DeGeneres sent out a selfie that broke Twitter with over 3.3 million retweets. Since then, there have been plenty of parodies of DeGeneres’ record-breaking picture, whether it was done with characters from “The Simpsons”; using Legos; or photoshopping the many faces of Nicolas Cage over everyone in the picture. But some Turkish protestors have done something that has yet to be done in terms of spoofing Ellen’s selfie; they took theirs in the back of a prison van.

According to the UK-based publication, The Mirror, Ali Emre Mazlumogl tweeted the image of the protestors after they had been arrested in Istanbul. And even though they had been arrested, every one of them was smiling, just like all the movie stars in Ellen DeGeneres’ photo.

However, Mazlumogl’s tweet has a lot of catching up to do, if it wants to reach Ellen DeGeneres’ record. The image itself was posted on March 10, and has 4,678 retweets at the time of this posting. Ellen’s crossed the 1 million mark the day it was posted.

If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014

PolicyMic reports that the Turkish protestors were able to get 14 in their selfie, while Ellen’s only had 12. And Ellen and others were in a more open space.

Unlike DeGeneres’ image, though, the Turkish selfie comes following some horrific events, including demonstrations that resulted in two deaths earlier this week, after the funeral of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan. Last year, during a protest, Elvan was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired by police. He spent 269 days in a coma before succumbing to his injury.

And Mazlumogl’s tweet was not a PR stunt, either, like Ellen DeGeneres’. In a related report from The Inquisitr, Samsung spent over $20 million to advertise the features of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which DeGeneres used to take the famous selfie on Oscar night. At DeGeneres’ request, Samsung donated $3 million to St. Jude’s and the Humane Society.

The New York Daily News reports that Mazlumogl’s picture is being used as a symbol of the “defiance of the demonstrators,” who are against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Mashable reports that the original reason behind the protest was because of plans to pave over Istanbul’s Gezi Park. The situation got out of hand, once police got involved and tried to put a halt on demonstrations.

Since the Oscars, Ellen DeGeneres has shared and retweeted some other selfies that spoofed hers. However, at the time of this posting, she has not made any comments about the protests, or the protestors’ selfie, on her Twitter page.

Image via @AEMazlumoglu on Twitter.