Last week, virtually no one was surprised when thinly-veiled hate group OneMillionMoms.com called for the firing of Ellen DeGeneres as the spokeswoman for JC Penney due to the fact that DeGeneres is an “open homosexual.”
Ellen is also host of the popular TV chat show that bears her name, and it is likely JC Penney seriously considered the whole “lesbian” thing before they brought her on as host. While the star does not hide her sexuality nor her lengthy relationship with Arrested Development star Portia De Rossi, neither is she overtly political in tone and hardly believable as a soldier in the “culture war” OneMillionMoms claims is ongoing.
Predictably, the group has wrapped their bigotry up in “family values,” with the implication that perhaps one of the most positive personalities on television today is somehow damaging to the morality of viewers. But Ellen has spoken out, admitting that while she rarely addresses such issues on her show, it was important to her to thank JC Penney for not cowing to the (probably very weak) pressure to “fire” her.
Ellen segued in to the topic by mentioning the ruling that Prop 8 in California was unconstitutional, and she added:
“I’m sure the people who oppose it will try to appeal it, but it’s a step in the right direction. So I’m happy… But there’s a group called One Million Moms that isn’t happy about it. And normally, I try not to pay attention to my haters- but this time I’d like to talk about it, because my haters are my motivators.”
Ellen continued:
“This organization doesn’t think I should be the spokesperson because I’m gay. They wanted to get me fired, and I’m proud and happy to say that JC Penney stuck by their decision to make me their spokesperson. Which is great news for me because I also need some new crew socks. I’m really going to clean up with this discount… After JCPenney didn’t back down, I thought the story would be over… it did not go away. The group has posted a message on their Facebook page.”
DeGeneres then noted for the crowd that “being gay or pro-gay isn’t a bandwagon. You don’t get a free ride anywhere. There’s no music. And occasionally we’ll sing ‘We Are Family’ but that’s about it,” before thanking fans and the retailer for sticking by her. (She also added that “not that there’s anyone counting, but for a group that calls themselves a Million Moms, they only have 40,000 members on their page. So they’re rounding up to the nearest million and I get that.”) Ellen says:
“I usually don’t talk about stuff like this on my show, but I really want to thank everyone who is supporting me. Here are the values I stand for. I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you’d want to be treated and helping those in need . To me, those are traditional values. That’s what I stand for… I also believe in dance.”
Do you plan on shopping at JC Penney more to support their support of their openly gay spokeswoman?