On Monday, American comedienne and TV host Ellen Degeneres made an innocuous comment.
“One thing that I’ve learned from being in quarantine is that people — this is like being in jail, is what it is,” she said. “It’s mostly because I’ve been wearing the same clothes for 10 days and everyone in here is gay.”
This immediately sparked a massive backlash from people on the internet who called her out for being privileged and tone-deaf considering she lives in a mansion and can afford to socially distance herself from people during this coronavirus pandemic.
“I feel bad for the kids at home, all the college students, all the parents,” DeGeneres went on to say. “I feel bad for a lot of people. But I think that a lot of people out there need words of encouragement, and that’s what I want to do.”
However, the damage was done and a flurry of comments rained down on the comments section of the video which, as of Wednesday afternoon, was listed as “unavailable” on Youtube, reports CNN.
“Sitting inside her fifteen million dollar mansion complaining and comparing it to a prison, very tone-deaf ellen,” one viewer commented on YouTube.