Katy Perry Is Sending Ellen Degeneres 'Love and a Hug' For Some Reason

Katy Perry exists insofar that sometimes I hear her music in the grocery store, or the changing room of a Wet Seal, and am like: “Oh! Katy Perry, she exists.” This state of being has, to her benefit, allowed Perry to slither out of numerous public controversies, like that time she bulldozed over some nuns to turn their convent into her mansion, or when producer Mano accused her of calling him the n-word multiple times in 2013. This isn’t even to mention the lower-hanging fruit—many instances of cultural appropriation come to mind, too numerous to list here. Now, sitting neatly on this haphazardly arranged fuck sandwich is Perry’s defense of Ellen Degeneres.

On Tuesday at midnight, Katy Perry tweeted:

“I know I can’t speak for anyone else’s experience besides my own but I want to acknowledge that I have only ever had positive takeaways from my time with Ellen & on the @theellenshow. I think we all have witnessed the light & continual fight for equality that she has brought to the world through her platform for decades. Sending you love & a hug, friend @TheEllenShow.

This defense of DeGeneres comes amid weeks of ongoing accusations of abusive working conditions against the world’s most famous daytime talk show host and other staffers at Ellen. In a Buzzfeed report, one employee claimed that racist microaggressions are the norm, alleging that a writer for the show once told her he “only knows the names of the white people who work here.” When she mentioned these issues, she said her colleagues referred to her as the “PC police” and she was ostracized. Another employee told BuzzFeed News they checked into a mental health facility for a suicide attempt and, upon returning to work, was fired. Yet another employee was allegedly reprimanded for creating a GoFundMe after the show’s insurance wouldn’t cover the cost of their medical needs.

It would normally be “surprising,” then, that someone would think to publicly side with Ellen Degeneres, even in the face of damning claims like those above, and more, which are still surfacing as of press time. But in the context of Katy Perry’s track record, her defense of Ellen is… well… a bit too predictable! Still, at least it’s a bit comical that the best Perry could muster was some wishy-washy “love and light” nonsense.