Ellen DeGeneres issued a rare political statement in support of Rosie O’Donnell, after President Donald Trump threatened to revoke the actor’s U.S. citizenship.
On Saturday, Trump claimed on his Truth Social account that O’Donnell, who lives in Ireland, is “a Threat to Humanity,” and he was giving “serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
O’Donnell fired back hours later on Instagram, calling Trump “King Joffrey with a tangerine spray tan,” a reference to a much-hated, sadistic, authoritarian character from Game of Thrones.
DeGeneres, who relocated to the U.K. in November, went to Instagram Sunday to show her support for O’Donnell. She shared a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post about O’Donnell and the former The View host’s response to him.
“Good for you @rosie,” DeGeneres wrote in the caption of her post.
DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, moved to the Cotswolds, an area in South West England, in November 2024. The move was reportedly in response to Trump being elected president, TMZ published at the time, though neither have publicly confirmed the reason they left the U.S.
However, DeGeneres has shared updates about their life on the other side of the pond. In April, she shared a photo on Instagram of her partner in front of a rural view, alongside the caption: “Three things that make me happy: My wife, a rainbow, and my wife taking a photograph of a rainbow.”
O’Donnell, too, has fled the U.S., confirming her move to Ireland earlier this year, noting that she and her 12-year-old adopted daughter, Dakota, left the U.S. on January 15, only days before Trump took office.
In a TikTok video shared in March, O’Donnell described how much she loved living in Ireland, with people who are “so loving and so kind and so welcoming.” She also hinted that she chose to move because Trump became President for a second term.
“I miss many things about life there at home and I'm trying to find a home here in this beautiful country and when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that's when we will consider coming back,” the Now & Then star said.
Apparently referring to America under Trump, she added: “It's been heartbreaking to see what's happening politically and hard for me personally as well.”
Despite now being located across the pond, O’Donnell’s decades-long public feud with Trump continues.
In his initial post about O’Donnell, Trump wrote: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He continued: “She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
In her response, O’Donnell, who’s been a longtime critic of him, posted a photo of Trump with the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to Instagram, and wrote: “Hey Donald –you’re rattled again? 18 years later and I still live rent-free in that collapsing brain of yours.”
She claimed that while he had called her “a threat to humanity,” she is “everything you fear: a loud woman, a queer woman, a mother who tells the truth.”
“You build walls – I build a life for my autistic kid in a country where decency still exists, you crave loyalty,” she wrote.
After she detailed other ways that her and Trump’s outlooks differ, she concluded: “You want to revoke my citizenship? Go ahead and try, King Joffrey with a tangerine spray tan. I’m not yours to silence. I never was. Rosie.”
The president has no power to strip anyone of citizenship. However, ever since he returned to the White House in January, Trump has sought to end birthright citizenship, guaranteed to Americans under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Several courts have already struck down the president’s attempt to block citizenship from newborn Americans who are born to certain immigrant parents.
In another alarming move, a recently unveiled memo from the Department of Justice outlines the Trump administration’s plans to “maximally pursue” denaturalization of American citizens, marking a radical expansion of the president’s anti-immigration agenda.
