Former first lady Michelle Obama defended the friendship of former President George W. Bush and comedian Ellen DeGeneres after the two faced criticism for appearing together at an NFL game.
The 73-year-old former president and the 61-year-old host of the Ellen DeGeneres Show sat together at a game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers on Oct. 6. Footage of the two enjoying the game caused some people, such as actor Mark Ruffalo, to condemn the friendship based on either Bush’s or DeGeneres’s politics.
Obama, 55, later sat for an interview with Bush’s daughter, Jenna Hager, for NBC News. The network released a new clip from part two of the interview on Tuesday. In it, Hager asked Obama about Bush and DeGeneres and the backlash their camaraderie received online.
“I had an opportunity to sit by your father at funerals, the highs and the lows,” Obama responded. “We shared stories about our kids and about our parents. Our values are the same. We disagree on policy. But we don’t disagree on humanity.”
“You don’t disagree about love and compassion,” Obama said “I think that’s true for all of us, it’s just that we get lost in our fear of what’s different.”
Watch part two of @MichelleObama’s interview with @jennabushhager about dropping her youngest daughter off at college, the 2020 election and her special friendship with former President George W. Bush. pic.twitter.com/wz9ZBAtpG6
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 10, 2019
Ruffalo blasted DeGeneres for getting along with the former Republican president days after the game. He demanded that Bush be “brought to justice” before receiving any goodwill or friendship from anyone.
“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 said on Twitter.
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
DeGeneres later defended their friendship herself, saying, “I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have. We’re all different. And I think that we’ve forgotten that that’s OK that we’re all different.”
