Mark Ruffalo sharply criticizes Ellen DeGeneres amid George W. Bush controversy
Ellen DeGeneres aimed to put her recent controversy to bed, but it is undoubtedly alive and thriving.
Although the talk show host is publicly known for her solid rapport with celebrities, a select few are expressing dismay and disappointment in her Tuesday monologue, during which she urged people to be unconditionally kind to others. Mark Ruffalo, for his part, didn't mince words on Wednesday afternoon as he retweeted a new Vanity Fair column that labels DeGeneres "increasingly out of touch with reality."
"Sorry, until George W. Bush is brought to justice for the crimes of the Iraq War, (including American-lead torture, Iraqi deaths & displacement, and the deep scars—emotional & otherwise—inflicted on our military that served his folly), we can’t even begin to talk about kindness," Ruffalo wrote.
Sorry, until George W. Bush is brought to justice for the crimes of the Iraq War, (including American-lead torture, Iraqi deaths & displacement, and the deep scars—emotional & otherwise—inflicted on our military that served his folly), we can’t even begin to talk about kindness. https://t.co/dpMwfck6su
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 9, 2019
On Tuesday, DeGeneres responded to the public discourse about photos of her laughing and chatting with the former president: "I'm friends with George Bush. In fact, I'm friends with a lot of people who don't share the same beliefs that I have," she said. "We're all different, and I think that we've forgotten that that's okay."
The optimistic message was well-received by many, including a number of famous faces like Reese Witherspoon and Blake Shelton. But others are lambasting it as an alliance of the elites— ultra-wealthy people who operate in their own class, unaware of how idealogical and political differences actually impact everyday people.
As VF writer Laura Bradley points out, "For millions of people, the Bush era was not one of compassion or kindness ... DeGeneres reduced this history to a difference in 'beliefs.' She compared their would-be tension to that shared by Cowboys and Packers fans."
Although Ruffalo has appeared on "Ellen" before, he has not done so in more than a decade, when he appeared in 2004 to promote "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." In more recent years, he has been on other talk shows, but not Ellen's.
