Ellen DeGeneres tweeted out a photoshopped picture of herself riding Usain Bolt’s back, and it made the internet angry.
The tweet caused an immediate backlash on Twitter, with cries of racism and insensitivity in joking about a white woman riding the back of a black man.
Other’s disagreed and jumped to DeGeneres’ defence, saying she was only complimenting Bolt’s speed and didn’t mean to be racist.
Ellen herself acknowledged the controversy in a Tweet on Tuesday.
This isn’t the first time the television host has come under fire for making what’s been perceived as a tasteless joke. In 2015, she aired a sketch on Ellen that depicted a black family whose butts were so comically big that they had trouble with the simplest tasks, like sitting on a couch together to watch TV. The sketch was meant to be a parody of Nicki Minaj’s upcoming Freeform sitcom about her childhood, but most viewed the sketch as tasteless. The video is no longer available on her website.
