Ellen DeGeneres Calls Mississippi’s Anti-Gay Law ‘The Definition of Discrimination’
On Wednesday Ellen DeGeneres delivered a moving and emotional – and, of course, very funny – monologue denouncing Mississippi‘s sweeping anti-LGBT “religious freedom” law, which Gov. Phil Bryant just signed into law.
The multi-talented comedian, TV talk show host, model, and actor, quipped her audience the new law “might sound good because the word freedom is in it.”
But, DeGeneres said, the issue is “very personal to me.”
“I’m not a political person, I’m really not. But this is not politics this is human rights. And I mean, when I see something wrong, I have to talk about it. It’s the same thing that I do when I see men wearing Spandex in line at Starbucks. It’s wrong and I need to discuss it,” she said.
Calling it “the definition of discrimination,” Ellen said, “It’s also something that the Supreme Court already ruled on when they made marriage a right for everyone, everyone. And they’re Supreme. I mean, that’s the best you can get. Like the Nacho Supreme from Taco Bell.”
“The Supreme Court said the same thing that Diana Ross and the Supremes said a long time ago: ‘Stop! In the Name of Love.’ And now, yes, and now Mississippi is saying, ‘I Don’t Second That Emotion.'”
“Sometimes I think it’s easier to explain things if you break it down,” DeGeneres told her wildly supportive audience. “So imagine this. Two cupcakes walk into a flower shop and they want to buy a dozen roses. But the florist doesn’t believe in selling flowers to cupcakes because they don’t have any money. But gay people do so sell them the damn flowers.”
And then she grew very personal.
“I grew up in the South right next door, in Louisiana. I used to go to Mississippi as a kid all the time. My Aunt Helen lived there. So if you’re in Mississippi or North Carolina or anywhere and you’re saddened by the fact that people are judging you based on who you love, don’t lose hope. I was fired for being gay and I know what it feels like. I lost everything. But look at me now. I could buy that Governor’s mansion, flip it and make a $7 Million dollar profit.”
“I mean look, there’s already so much inequality in the world. Women’s rights, gender pay gap, racism. I think we need to remember that we are more similar than we are different. And we all want the same things. Love, acceptance, kindness. And I want one of those new Teslas.”
“So I advocate for less hate and more love. Less tearing apart and more coming together. Less sitting and more dancing.”
Watch above.
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