Internet reacts to Ellen DeGeneres laughing with former President George W. Bush

Tanya Edwards
Updated

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres was photographed on Sunday at the AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas watching the Dallas Cowboys take on the Green Bay Packers with her wife, Portia De Rossi on one side. On the other? Former President George W. Bush.

The two were filmed and photographed laughing together in a private box, and some people had strong reactions to America’s favorite lesbian hanging out with a man who backed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 06: Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres watch the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys warm up before the game at AT&T Stadium on October 06, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres watch the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys warm up before the game at AT&T Stadium on October 6, 2019 in Arlington, Tex. (Photo: Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Journalist Parker Molloy was the first to point out the pair were together in a since-deleted tweet. She also noted in another now-deleted tweet that DeGeneres and Bush were hanging out just two days before the Supreme Court (on which now sits Bush’s former staff secretary Brett Kavanaugh, whom Bush supported through his Supreme Court nomination) is about to “hear a case about whether it will be legal to discriminate against LGBTQ people in employment.”

Actor John Cusack did not mince words in a tweet, writing, “F*** normalizing mass murderers,” presumably referring to the Iraq War, which started during Bush’s presidency. The number of Iraqi dead ranges from hundreds of thousands to over a million depending on estimates.

Oscar nominated director Josh Fox wasn’t a fan of the two hobnobbing either, asking: “How does it feel to watch a game with a mass murdering genocidal war criminal?”

Other people on Twitter didn’t seem to feel it was a big deal, and were into the whole unity of the moment. One wrote, “that’s the America I want to live in.”

One woman thought it was the best part of the game noting, “the best friends we never knew we needed.”

Most people just seemed surprised by seeing the two together.

Wider shots seem to show the former president, a Texas native, was attending the game with his wife, Laura Bush, and DeGeneres was with hers, in addition to other guests.

This isn’t the first time the two have been in the same room together. Bush appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres show back in March of 2017 to talk about his dogs reacted to Vladimir Putin.

Podcaster Nima Shirazi shared a few photos of the two together as well, writing that DeGeneres has “long been instrumental in the living room resurrection of this war criminal into a goofy grandpa.”

Since the end of his presidency, George W. Bush has been humanized by his daughters and wife, love of painting and friendship with Michelle Obama (which has received similar split feedback to DeGeneres’ relationship).

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