Inside Celine Dion And Ellen DeGeneres' Relationship
Ellen DeGeneres has been taking heat for months now after reports of the toxic work environment on The Ellen DeGeneres Show surfaced. Since then, viewers have been looking back at certain interviews and episodes of the show through a different lens and discussing the not-so-kind way the Queen of Kindness seemed to treat some of her guests. One such interview to resurface and cause controversy is the 2007 interview with Celine Dion. The singer came onto the show to promote the album she had released that year. At one point during the interview, DeGeneres joked that the singer "must be busy" because it seemed she had "forgotten to cut [her] son's hair." DeGeneres then showed a family portrait up on the big screen which depicted Dion, her husband René Angélil, and their son René-Charles Angélil, who had flowing, shoulder-length hair.
In the moment, Dion politely but unabashedly defended her son, asking DeGeneres, "Do you have a problem with that?" DeGeneres replied that she didn't have a problem, but continued to push the issue by saying, "That is some long hair!" In response, Dion explained that her son was in charge of his own hair, and said that when he was ready, she would cut it (via NickiSwift.com).
Why people are mad about how Ellen DeGeneres treated Celine Dion
Looking back on this interview now is rubbing people the wrong way for multiple reasons. Not only were DeGeneres's comments rude, but many point out the hypocricy of DeGeneres, who herself sports a now-iconic short haircut, making fun of someone for wearing their hair in a way that doesn't necessarily allign with gender norms. Additionally, it wasn't just anyone she was poking fun at; it was a child, insinuating that she was both mom-shaming Celine Dion and unnecessarily bullying a kid (via Yahoo).
In the comments section of the video, people voiced their disgust: "That was very rude how Ellen was so blunt with the question and was so critical about it. I'm glad Celine defended her son though," said one commenter. Another person added, "Ellen has some nerve giving a boy a hard time because his hair doesn't quite sync with his gender role."
As a person who stands proudly for LGBTQ+ rights and is a proud face of a community that shirks standard gender roles in favor of being true to one's self, this video seems to smack of hypocrisy and further hammer home the concern many people now have that DeGeneres may not be quite what her image has always portrayed her to be.