Dump Ellen?

Social conservative group "One Million Moms" wants JC Penny to drop Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson because well, you know, she fools around with women. And that, is very, very naughty.

I have to fess up that I have always had a bit of a crush (unrequited, obviously) on Ellen. So maybe I am overly defensive. But let me, for the moment, try to put myself in the head of a social conservative (eeek!). Ellen is probably (certainly?) the only major comedian whose routine is not filled with swearing and sex both on (where there are limits) and off (where there are not) of network television. Indeed, part of what makes her such a great comedian is that she can get laughs without dropping the f-bomb or making people squirm with jokes about pedophilia and incest (as in the last George Carlin show I saw). One might, as a social conservative, contrast Ellen with, say, my favorite late-night host Craig Ferguson, who drops the f-bomb constantly even on his network show (bleep, bleep!) and who, for example, might spend an entire monologue on jokes related to the adult video awards. Is what you do in bed, where no one can see, so important to social conservatives relative to what you do in public that it trumps everything else?

Frankly, I think the Million Moms need to get their collective minds out of the gutter (or at least out of Ellen's bed) and find something actually useful to do with their time, energy and money. I commend Martha Stewart's website for this purpose.

Hat tip: Dann Millimet