The campaign to fire Ellen DeGeneres as
the spokesperson for JCPenney because she is openly gay has ended.
The group One Million Moms, which is
closely associated with the Christian conservative group American
Family Association (AFA), last month called on JCPenney to fire
DeGeneres.
The group said it objected to DeGeneres
because she is openly gay.
“Funny that JCPenney thinks hiring an
open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of
its customers are traditional families,” the group said.
The 54-year-old DeGeneres, who publicly
came out in 1997, is the host of The Ellen DeGeneres Show and
is a spokesperson for CoverGirl and American Express. DeGeneres
married actress Portia DeRossi in 2008.
(Related: Ellen
DeGeneres calls One Million Moms “haters”; Cheers Prop 8 ruling.)
In comments to AFA's, OneNewsNow.com,
One Million Moms Director Monica Cole said the group was moving on.
“But we have heard back from so many
of our members,” Cole said. “We have heard back from men and
women – not just moms – saying they will no longer shop there at
JCPenney, as long as Ellen DeGeneres is their spokesperson.”
Cole also cited JCPenney CEO Ron
Johnson's support for DeGeneres.
(Related: Ellen
DeGeneres is the perfect choice for JCPenney, CEO Ron Johnson says.)
“Everyone works hard for their money,
and they want to spend their money with companies that have the same
values as them,” she said. “And JCPenney stated that Ellen
DeGeneres shares the same values that they do. So obviously, it's
not the same as Christians or conservatives, which is unfortunate,
[because] JCPenney was founded by a Christian man.”