LONDON: Ellen DeGeneres is on the defensive following a social media backlash to a tweet many say is racist.
The comedian and daytime talk-show host published a tweet on Monday night featuring an image of herself on the back of Jamaican Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt as he sprinted towards the finish line during his historic 100m sprint. “This is how I'm running errands from now,” the caption read.
Social media users quickly fired back, criticising the picture for racist undertones. The trouble with the image, one user explained, was that it invoked imagery reminiscent of slavery in the US, when black people were subjugated by whites.
@MiQL tweeted: “So riding on his back like a mule, a horse as some form of property is fun to you…”
The criticism was dismissed by other people on Twitter, who argued that DeGeneres was simply trying to say Bolt – a world record-holding track star – was fast.
@xtraordinairee_ tweeted: “If Usain was white, y’all wouldn’t care. We all know Ellen isn’t racist & didn’t mean any harm by that. Stop it.”
DeGeneres posted a defence on her page without apology. “I am highly aware of the racism that exists in our country,” she wrote. “It is the furthest thing from who I am.”
The Ellen Show has previously drawn criticism for alleged racial insensitivity. Last October, the show was criticised for a depiction of rapper Nicki Minaj’s family in a sketch about her childhood in Queens, New York.
The operative joke was that every member of the family had large buttocks – a well known characteristic of the Trinidadian-American pop star. – The Independent