Ellen DeGeneres holds back tears in George Floyd video, days after deleting ‘injustice’ tweet amid backlash

US talk show host previously tweeted: ‘For things to change, things must change’

Ellen DeGeneres has held back tears in a new video supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, days after deleting a tweet about the killing of George Floyd that provoked fierce backlash.

In a video posted to her social media, DeGeneres explained that she had been “sad and angry” over Floyd’s death and urged her followers to sign petitions, donate and “get informed”.

She said: “I haven’t spoken directly because I don’t know what to say. I am so sad, and I am so angry. I know I’m not going to say the right thing, I know there are going to be a lot of people who are in disagreement with what I say, but I have a platform and I have a voice and I have always stood for equality.”

“I’ve always wanted to be the voice for people who felt like they didn’t have a voice, because I know what that feels like,” the US talk show host continued. “Maybe you don’t agree with how it’s coming out, but you have to understand it, and then we can heal it.”

“I’m just so sorry that it’s come to this. I really don’t know what to say other than this has gone on way, way, way too long. People have got away with murder. That’s what’s happening. We’ve got to see fairness and justice for all, because right now this is not a fair world, not at all.”

The video comes three days after DeGeneres deleted a tweet following significant backlash on social media.

In a tweet published on Saturday (30 May), DeGeneres wrote: “Like so many of you, I am angry and I am sad. People of colour in this country have faced injustice for far too long.

“For things to change, things must change. We must commit ourselves to this change with conviction and with love.”

DeGeneres was criticised for only referring to “people of colour” in her tweet, despite police brutality against black people instigating the wave of protests that have occurred across the world in the wake of Floyd’s death.

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Others criticised the tweet for being “vague and saying nothing”.

DeGeneres was at the centre of a scandal in March when comedian Kevin T Porter pledged to donate $2 to a Los Angeles food bank for every “insane story” his followers tweeted to him about DeGeneres, whom he branded “notoriously one of the meanest people alive”.