Ellen DeGeneres found herself in hot water this week following a photoshopped meme of herself and Olympian Usain Bolt.
The image in question, taken by Aussie photographer Cameron Spencer, shows the athlete flashing the camera a smile while sprinting strides ahead of his opponents in the 100m men’s sprint.
The 29-year-old secured gold for this incredible win.
Ellen and her team altered this image to show the host riding on his back, with the caption, “This is how I’m running my errands from now on.”
The intended joke immediately began to receive an influx of backlash from Twitter users, calling out the 58-year-old for being “racist” and “insensitive”.
“You thought it’d be funny to post a pic of yourself riding on the back of a Black man? Nope. Delete this racist garbage,” wrote one disgruntled user while another simply said, “This is utterly f–king ridiculous. How dare you!?!?”
Others were quick to stand up for the beloved comedian, pointing out the fact that she has been nothing but supportive in her active fight against discrimination.
Finally, the Finding Dory star took to Twitter once more; not to apologise, but to defend herself.
“I am highly aware of the racism that exists in our country,” she tweeted. “It is the furthest thing from who I am.”
Usain, who is clearly unoffended by the meme due to his decision to retweet it, went on win gold after crossing the finish line in 9.81 seconds.
His win went down in the history books as he became the only person to claim first place in the event for the third consecutive time.
Watch Ellen and Usain discuss Rio 2016 in the video player below!
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