Ellen Degeneres Research Papers
Ellen DeGeneres might be better known for her short spurts of memory as Dory in Finding Nemo, but she is also known for her shocking coming out in 1997 on network television. Her coming out was one of the most important events to happen that year. Her show and career suffered for a bit, but she was able to show society another face of the gay community, and she went on to become one of the most influential women in today’s world. Ellen DeGeneres’ coming out was one of the best things to happen in 1997.
DeGeneres first got national recognition when a video of her emceeing at a comedy club in her hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, won an honor from Showtime award for “Funniest Person in America (“About Ellen DeGeneres”)”. In 1986, she was then invited on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She became the first female to be …show more content…
She was in the public eye, but she held up a façade. In a TIME magazine interview from April 14th, 1997, she said she was constantly worrying, “I just thought, ‘Oh God. What if they pick up that I’m gay?’” (“He Called Me Ellen Degenerate”). She went on to say that “I never felt like I belonged to the gay community, [and] I never felt like I belonged to the straight community” (“He Called Me Ellen Degenerate”). Many people who are discovering themselves put up a face to hide who they truly are, much like Ellen had to do.
According to Jennifer Reed, a teacher of women’s studies at California State University Long Beach, DeGeneres is “arguably the most famous lesbian in America” (23). Ironically, though, she is also a spokeswoman for J. C. Penney, the company that earlier in her career had dropped their advertisement on her show due to her coming out. Recently, the Facebook group, One Million Moms, called out J. C. Penney for using DeGeneres as their spokeswoman for a campaign. The CEO of J. C. Penney defended their choice, saying, “We believe in Ellen. She shares our values. . .”
DeGeneres first got national recognition when a video of her emceeing at a comedy club in her hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, won an honor from Showtime award for “Funniest Person in America (“About Ellen DeGeneres”)”. In 1986, she was then invited on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She became the first female to be …show more content…
She was in the public eye, but she held up a façade. In a TIME magazine interview from April 14th, 1997, she said she was constantly worrying, “I just thought, ‘Oh God. What if they pick up that I’m gay?’” (“He Called Me Ellen Degenerate”). She went on to say that “I never felt like I belonged to the gay community, [and] I never felt like I belonged to the straight community” (“He Called Me Ellen Degenerate”). Many people who are discovering themselves put up a face to hide who they truly are, much like Ellen had to do.
According to Jennifer Reed, a teacher of women’s studies at California State University Long Beach, DeGeneres is “arguably the most famous lesbian in America” (23). Ironically, though, she is also a spokeswoman for J. C. Penney, the company that earlier in her career had dropped their advertisement on her show due to her coming out. Recently, the Facebook group, One Million Moms, called out J. C. Penney for using DeGeneres as their spokeswoman for a campaign. The CEO of J. C. Penney defended their choice, saying, “We believe in Ellen. She shares our values. . .”