Ellen DeGeneres pays emotional tribute to Barack and Michelle Obama
Ellen DeGeneres has paid a heartfelt tribute to President Obama as he leaves office.
The chat show host thanked him for letting her marry the woman she lives, and for standing up for LGBT rights when in power.
“I am happily married woman because of him”, she said, “and so is my wife!”
He also visited Ellen’s show twice during his time in office, as well as doing several live link-ups with the show.
Not to mention the time Michelle Obama went shopping with Ellen and asked the whole store, with a megaphone, if they had cream for the First Lady’s rash.
All that makes up Ellen’s five minute tribute to the first family.
Get the tissues out – it’s emotional.
President Obama previously called Ellen a “role model” for LGBT Americans after coming out as a lesbian in the late ’90s.
In his speech at the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony, Obama said that Ellen “reminds us that we have more in common than we realise”.
“It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far, where now marriage is equal under the law, just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago.
“Just how important it was, not just to the LGBT community, but for all of us to see somebody so full of kindness and light, somebody we liked so much, somebody who could be our neighbor, or our colleague, or our sister, challenge our own assumptions.
“Remind us that we have more in common that we realize.
Push our country in the direction of justice.
“What an incredible burden that was to bear, to risk your career like that.”
Obama leaves office at 12PM Washington DC time today.
