Ellen DeGeneres slammed after joking about coronavirus quarantining in LA home being like 'jail'
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Ellen DeGeneres upset many fans by comparing her time self-quarantining at home to jail.
The 62-year-old comedian, like many in the business, hosted her talk show from the comfort of her home amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in an effort to minimize crowds and maintain social distancing etiquette.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She opened her show with a monologue from her living room in which she extended her gratitude to medical workers and everyone else on the front lines of combatting COVID-19. The host went on to thank her wife, Portia de Rossi, for acting as her camera crew along with their dog, Augie.
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"Portia and I have been quarantining for three weeks now and it’s nice, actually, because we get to spend time together and talk and just really get to know each other, right? Did you know that she’s Australian? Fascinating," the star deadpanned.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, during her opening monologue, the star made a joke about quarantining with her wife being similar to incarceration, which upset many of her viewers.
"This is like being in jail is what it is," DeGeneres joked. "Mostly because I’ve been wearing the same clothes for 10 days and everyone in here is gay!"
Ellen DeGeneres upset some of her fans with a joke about self-quarantining being like jail. (Getty)
Several fans took to Twitter to lambaste the comedian for her privilege, calling her out for likening the conditions of isolation in her mansion to those of prisoners, even in joking.
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"My 19 year old daughter is considered an 'essential employee.' She's a fast food worker. She's exposed EVERY DAY. No one GAF about Ellen's privilege pampers a$$ stuck in her mansion. Show me @ellen working the lines @ the grocery store. NO mask, NO gloves. Then I might care," one angry user wrote.
"Petition to stick her in an actual jail after quarantine is lifted. Just for a month or so, so maybe she can learn something," someone else joked.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Hey, Ellen, go volunteer at a grocery store or food bank. Get on the front lines if being sequestered in your mansion is just too difficult. Unbelievable," a third user noted.
DeGeneres joins the slew of talk show hosts who have decided to return to filming in a different format in an effort to entertain people during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"While we’re all stuck here, I want to help take your mind off everything that’s going on in the world," she said in her opening monologue. "I always wanted to have this show as a distraction, as a break from whatever is going on out there that may be unpleasant. If you’re feeling down I want to lift you up, if you’re feeling trapped I want to set you free and if you feel like you’re going in the wrong direction, I want you to back that thing up."