If you’ve been on the internet in the last couple days, you’ve probably noticed that there’s been a lot of talk about George W. Bush. Funny that our current President is currently in the middle of impeachment proceedings, and suddenly all we can talk about is the guy who was president when we were in middle school.
Last weekend, a photo of Ellen DeGeneres laughing and chatting with George W. Bush at the Dallas Cowboys game went viral. People were outraged that Ellen, a long-time advocate for LGBTQ issues and member of the community, was rubbing shoulders with Bush, who has opposed marriage equality and other LGBTQ causes throughout his presidency. He also actively campaigned last year for Brett Kavanaugh to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, and many people view him as a war criminal for his decision to start a war in Iraq.
By Tuesday, Ellen couldn’t ignore the controversy about the photo, and she addressed it on her show. She clarified that she’s friends with George W. Bush, and that she is “friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have,” and urged that we should all “be kind to everyone.” For now, I won’t dive into the many stories of Ellen being a nightmare to the people who work for her (lmk if you want an article on that later), and I’ll just take her statement at face value. *Big deep breath* ok.
Many celebrities, including Reese Witherspoon and Kristen Bell, posted in support of Ellen, which in turn drew more controversy, but one star in particular created a whole firestorm all on her own. Jameela Jamil, star of The Good Place and outspoken advocate for a more honest culture around wellness, initially voiced her support for Ellen. But then she backtracked, tweeting that she had just learned about the specifics of George W. Bush’s time as President, and was (maybe) changing her mind.
Ooooof learning today about the full extent of Bush’s heinous presidency… we weren’t taught much about him at school, we just heard he was stupid…(we were dealing with our own epic nightmare of a prime minister back then). What a monstrous leader. I now understand the rage..
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) October 9, 2019
Okay, so there’s kind of a lot going on here. For reference, Jameela Jamil is British, and she was approximately 14-22 years old while George W. Bush was President. While some people praised her for doing more research after her initial defense of Ellen, the response wasn’t all positive. She immediately started getting lots of responses criticizing her for her lack of knowledge, and calling her ignorant for not being more aware. (So are you just supposed to be born knowing everything, or just never admit that you were ever uninformed about an issue?)
She’s older than me, and I went to a tonne of Iraq protests and my whole school staged an anti-war walkout? https://t.co/is0KAj163S
— Dawn Foster (@DawnHFoster) October 9, 2019
Basically, people had a lot of opinions about something that didn’t really have anything to do with them, which is usually how things go on Twitter dot com. Jameela defended herself, clarifying that she knew plenty about the war in Iraq, but mostly from the perspective of the British involvement. Also, I really don’t think it’s that unusual for a teenager to not be like, super invested in politics, and it’s better that she’s getting invested now than never.
Very interesting to see some pompous responses from people because someone from the other side of the world didn’t learn about a president in your country when they were a teenager. Are you experts on all world leaders from back then? Ridiculing learning and growth is weird. 🤘🏽
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) October 9, 2019
But aside from her clarifications on the specifics of her political knowledge, Jameela didn’t do the best job responding to some of the criticism online. When one of her followers asked her to share links or info about George W. Bush, this is how she responded:
Google it. I’m busy man.
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) October 9, 2019
I mean, why??? Jameela, I applaud your efforts to learn and be informed, but you can’t exactly get snappy with your audience when they just want the same thing as you. This is a situation where I don’t think the controversy was really warranted, but Jameela should also just leave it be. When you’re famous like her, you’re never going to get the last word over all the Twitter trolls, so at some point you have to just be content with the fact that you’re rich and famous, and they’re not, and you’re trying your best. There’s nothing to be gained from responding to randos in a way that just makes you look petty.
So at the end of the day, basically the internet is mad at George W. Bush for a lot of sh*t, they’re mad at Ellen for hanging out with George W. Bush, and they’re made at Jameela Jamil for admitting that she didn’t know that much about George W. Bush. Honestly, I can’t believe I just said “George W. Bush” that much in 2019, and I’m f*cking tired. Now if you need me, I’m going to take a nap.
Images: Shutterstock; jameelajamil (3), dawnhfoster / Twitter
