I’ve glanced through some of the many thinkpieces about “celebrities in the time of Covid” from the past month. No one can come to any kind of agreement: are celebrities good or bad in a pandemic? Do we want them to speak and entertain? Or should they all shut up and be silent in their mansions? Personally and professionally, I like the fact that so many celebrities are committed to being kind of famewhorey during the pandemic. I think it’s fun to see their boring interior design and watch them go stir-crazy in their mansions. I say this while acknowledging that everything is a complete horror show and people are dying and we can pay attention to that too, but most people also enjoy a little escapism, a little entertainment.
So I don’t hate that all of the talk show hosts are hosting shows from their homes, and that they’re still trying to do *something* to entertain. It’s a fine line though, when rich celebrities in their mansions start to complain about how they feel like they’re “in jail”?
Ellen DeGeneres resumed her talk show on Monday, April 6, after pausing production due to the coronavirus pandemic, but her return was marred by controversy. The comedian, 62, came under fire on Twitter after she jokingly compared the time she has spent quarantined at home to being incarcerated.
“One thing that I’ve learned from being in quarantine is that … this is like being in jail, is what it is,” DeGeneres said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show from the living room of her $27 million mansion in Montecito, California. “It’s mostly because I’ve been wearing the same clothes for 10 days and everyone in here is gay.”
Quarantine is not jail. Jail is jail. And our American prison system is being crippled by coronavirus too, and it’s a huge public health catastrophe and a huge human rights tragedy. But… who amongst us can say that in our darkest, loneliest moments, we didn’t think something similar while in quarantine? “This feels like jail, this feels like a punishment.” The difference is that we just think it and we don’t say it aloud. Anyway, quarantine isn’t jail and Ellen has a reputation for being extremely unpleasant. Have a good day!
People are literally dying in jail from COVID-19 while Ellen is out here making jokes about it. https://t.co/Z8cdnMDF5b
— Rebecca Kavanagh (@DrRJKavanagh) April 8, 2020
Screencap from Ellen’s show.
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