Ellen DeGeneres brought back her popular talk show while she’s in quarantine, but comments during her debut episode sparked some backlash and caused her to remove a video from social media, according to The Washington Post on Wednesday.
Production on DeGeneres’ show had been stopped due to the outbreak of COVID-19, but the daytime talk show host has been filming an “at-home edition” that is being shared on YouTube, according to the Post.
“One thing that I’ve learned from being in quarantine is that people — this is like being in jail, is what it is,” DeGeneres said in a video shared on Monday, according to CNN. “It’s mostly because I’ve been wearing the same clothes for 10 days and everyone in here is gay.”
It wasn’t long before the joke was being slammed both in the video’s comments section and on social media, CNN reported.
Many people pointed out that DeGeneres self-isolating in her mansion with her wife, Portia de Rossi, was a far cry from what prisoners were experiencing during the coronavirus outbreak, according to HuffPost.
“Incarcerated people are contracting #COVID19 & some are dying because of lack of access to healthcare, supplies & basic empathy from staff,” one Twitter user wrote.
Others felt that the joke showed DeGeneres’ “privilege,” with one person tweeting, “Disappointed in @TheEllenShow for joking about being in a jail while she sits in her multimillion $ mansion with access to anything she wants. Many of us are struggling to get essentials and are exposed on the front-lines.”
The YouTube video was listed as “unavailable” on Wednesday afternoon, according to CNN.
DeGeneres is not the first celebrity to face a public backlash while most of the country self-isolates due to COVID-19.
“Wonder Woman” actress Gal Gadot came under fire last month for sharing a video featuring a group of celebrities singing John Lennon’s “Imagine,” according to the New York Post.
Twitter users called the video “out of touch,” according to the Post, with one person tweeting, “I’ve always hated this song. ‘Imagine no possessions’ sung by some of the wealthiest people in the world.”