Ellen DeGeneres shared a rare political statement on social media over the weekend, reflecting on the death of Renee Nicole Good and the current situation in Minneapolis.
The comedian and former talk show host posted three clips on Instagram, one of Good, one of her speaking to the camera, and one of protestors in Minneapolis. “Hey everybody, I just wanted to say, I am so sorry for what is happening in Minneapolis and our country, really, but specifically Minneapolis right now because that’s where I shot my last stand-up special and everybody there couldn’t have been more lovely,” DeGeneres said.
“I shot it there because they say it’s the happiest city in America, and I found that to be true,” she continued. “So my thoughts and my prayers are going out to everyone, and I’m proud of everyone who’s protesting peacefully, and I am sorry for anyone who has been hurt just for protesting, for doing what you should be doing. Anyway, just sending love.”
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On the post of Good, which included a public statement made by Good’s wife Becca Good, DeGeneres wrote in a caption, “I’m so sad, and so angry, and so worried.”
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She added, on the video of protestors, “Hold on.”
DeGeneres filmed her 2024 Netflix special, Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval, at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. When the special was announced, DeGeneres alluded that she’d speak about the controversies she and her beloved Ellen Show were embroiled in back in 2020. “To answer the questions everyone is asking me — Yes, I’m going to talk about it,” she said. “Yes this is my last special. Yes, Portia really is that pretty in real life.”
The comedian’s image took a hit in 2020 following a series of reports by BuzzFeed News in which employees at her show alleged racism, sexual misconduct, and intimidation at the hands of executive producers. Three producers were fired because of it, and DeGeneres issued an on-air apology. In 2022, singer Greyson Chance, whom DeGeneres signed to her label, told Rolling Stone he had “never met someone more manipulative, more self-centered, and more blatantly opportunistic.”
Since then, DeGeneres relocated to the U.K., citing Donald Trump as the main motivation for leaving her home country. Last year, DeGeneres told broadcaster Richard Bacon that Trump’s election in November spurred her permanent relocation to the Cotswolds.
“We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘He got in,’” DeGeneres recalled, according to the BBC. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’”
She added, “I wish we were at a place where it was not scary for people to be who they are. I wish that we lived in a society where everybody could accept other people and their differences. So until we’re there, I think there’s a hard place to say we have huge progress.”
From Rolling Stone US
