The PBS broadcast of the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize on October 30 was a festival of tributes to Ellen DeGeneres – which is fine, since she is quite talented comedically. But it wasn’t so much a tribute for the comedy as it was for her pioneering work promoting homosexuality.
For laughs, consult top producer Cappy McGarr, who insisted Ellen wasn’t picked for political reasons: “The Kennedy Center is apolitical. We have had so many people who have their own brand and type of humor. We don’t pick winners because of any advocacy they do. It is all about funny and a funny life.”
Ellen Degeneres
By Brent Bozell | November 3, 2012 | 8:02 AM EDT
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By Tim Graham | October 24, 2012 | 7:52 AM EDT
Tuesday’s Washington Post honored lesbian comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres for “A comic’s courage” to come out of the closet. So did the Kennedy Center people who selected her to win the Mark Twain Prize. She did not disappoint the liberals.
On the awards show (taped for PBS), she made a “sly nod toward Mitt Romney’s sentiments” with the joke, “Thank you, PBS. I’m so glad to be part of your final season.” She also told Politico Romney made her “very, very scared” for women for many reasons (on which she apparently didn't have the "courage" to elaborate):
By Tim Graham | May 28, 2012 | 8:07 PM EDT
Funny things that little kids say is one part of the mix of the Ellen DeGeneres show. On Thursday, she brought on young Rainer Muuss and his even younger brother Atticus to discuss presidential history. Rainer knows more about presidents than your usual kindergartner. Atticus was just on to be cute. He really loves President Martin Van Buren -- for the sideburns.
But Ellen's favorite part was undoubtedly young Rainer expressing his hope that Barack Obama wins re-election because Obama "said that men and men can marry each other and woman and woman can marry each other and I think that’s right." Thunderous applause and approval from DeGeneres followed. "I really like you," she said to laughs: (video and transcript below)
By Noel Sheppard | May 13, 2012 | 12:51 PM EDT
This is a really scary thought.
On this weekend's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman actually said the most powerful and "unifying" media figures in the country today are "the daytime women talk show hosts. It's Oprah, Ellen and The View" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
By Paul Wilson | May 10, 2012 | 3:00 PM EDT
Hollywood celebrities exuberantly celebrated President Obama’s recent declaration of support for gay marriage. But Hollywood did not have to come out of the closet and support homosexuality – it has long used its influence to purposely swing public opinion in favor of homosexuality.
For several decades, Hollywood has shown its overt support for homosexuality. Brokeback Mountain was nominated for Best Picture for its unabashedly sympathetic portrayal of a doomed gay relationship. Newt Gingrich’s half-sister officiated at a gay wedding on “Friends” in the 1990s. More recently, late night talk show host Conan O’Brian officiated at an actual gay wedding.
By Kyle Drennen | October 5, 2011 | 1:16 PM EDT
During an interview with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres on Tuesday's NBC "Today," co-host Ann Curry asked: "If you're standing up and saying things, no matter what people may say or what some people may judge, then why are you so popular and successful?" DeGeneres replied: "Beats me. Like they do know I'm gay, right? Like, I'm gay, and yet, you know, we can't pass a vote to have marriage equality."
Curry touted: "During the five months in 2008 when same-sex marriage was legal in California, Ellen tied the knot with her girlfriend, actress Portia DeRossi." Later, Curry said of DeGeneres: "...this she does know, there is too much judgment in the world. And buried within her humor is a lesson of acceptance."
By Tim Graham | March 15, 2011 | 2:24 PM EDT
Robert Wright, president of NBC from 1986 to 2007, has joined a list of Hollywood notables -- including Melissa Etheridge, David Geffen, Anne Hathaway, Jane Lynch, Eric McCormack, Mya, Martin Sheen, Lily Tomlin, and "Ellen & Portia DeGeneres" -- in signing a letter to President Obama urging his public support of federal recognition of "gay marriage."
We ask you now for your leadership on ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage -- an exclusion that harms millions of Americans each day. Whether to end discrimination in marriage is a question America has faced before, and faces again today. With so many Americans talking it through in heartfelt conversations, it is a question that calls for clarity from the President.
Anderson Cooper Crusade on 'Ellen' Leads to Universal Canceling Movie Trailer With 'Electric Cars Are Gay' Joke
By Tim Graham | October 8, 2010 | 5:19 PM EDT 
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper's increasing crusade against any negative usage of the word "gay" is now reverberating in Hollywood. In an appearance Thursday on the talk show of Ellen DeGeneres, Cooper expressed astonishment that anyone would use "gay" with a negative connotation, and he'd even seen a movie trailer (which he didn't name) that committed this offense. E! Online reports:
Universal Studios executives have decided to replace a trailer for Vince Vaughn's new comedy, The Dilemma, after CNN newsman Anderson Cooper blasted it for its negative use of the word "gay."
"The teaser trailer for The Dilemma was not intended to cause anyone discomfort," the studio statement said. "In light of growing claims that the introduction to the trailer is insensitive, it is being replaced. A full trailer, which has been in the works for some time, will post online later today."
By Candance Moore | February 5, 2010 | 2:19 PM EST
During a web-only interview with CBS's Katie Couric to promote her new role on "American Idol," comedienne Ellen DeGeneres went on a rant about our sexist culture that demands women look more attractive than men.
There's just one problem: DeGeneres is the face of Proctor and Gamble's famous makeup line CoverGirl. In fact, she even appeared in a well known commercial saying, "Inner beauty is important -- but not nearly as important as outer beauty."
Too bad a serious journalist like Couric didn't think to ask if DeGeneres's fans might get confused. Then again, The Perky One would have had to confront her own complicity in flouting short skirts on network news programs and giving condescending interviews to women like Sarah Palin.
Without regard to the obvious hypocrisy, Couric teed up the subject by asking if DeGeneres was concerned for women who "are so obsessed and worried and spend so much time thinking about their bodies." DeGeneres used the question to accuse American culture of a sexist double standard (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript):
By Carolyn Plocher | December 4, 2009 | 7:00 PM EST
On Dec. 4, the Australian actress Portia de Rossi, wife of Ellen DeGeneres, appeared on both ABC's "Good Morning America" and "The View" to promote her ABC sitcom ‘Better off Ted" ... well, supposedly. In reality, ABC simply offered de Rossi a soapbox to rant about gay rights.
During his interview with de Rossi, GMA correspondent Bill Weir called DeGeneres and de Rossi a "beautiful couple" and gushed, "Every time we see you two together the affection is still so obvious."
Weir then asked de Rossi a long-winded question about legalizing gay marriage, which included a prophecy of his own.
"And you're a testament for this sort of thing," Weir began, "and - I don't want to get too political on you but there probably will be a day when this is not a novelty - but when you see sort of the votes that happen - some setbacks politically - how do you think about that in your house?"
By Geoffrey Dickens | November 20, 2008 | 5:10 PM EST
After much mocking by Ellen Degeneres about Chris Matthews' dancing abilities on his last appearance on her syndicated show, the "Hardball" host chatted with Degeneres, on Thursday's show, about the election of Barack Obama and actually grabbed a shot glass to toast his win with Ellen (audio excerpt here):
ELLEN DEGENERES: Amazing! And you must be thrilled? I mean what, what a moment.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well I am thrilled!
DEGENERES: Yeah.
MATTHEWS, picking up shot glass: To Barack Obama!
DEGENERES, toasting: Yeah. To Barack Obama!
A little later in his interview segment, Matthews also took a different kind of shot, the verbal kind, against the outgoing administration:
By Tim Graham | November 14, 2008 | 6:08 AM EST
In an interview with Victor Balta of Comcast.net, openly gay talk show host Ellen DeGeneres effusively praised Keith Olbermann's November 10 special comment denouncing the passage of Proposition 8 in California, maintaining the traditional definition of marriage: