KUALA LUMPUR: American TV personality Ellen DeGeneres earned the wrath of Netizens recently when she quipped about the quarantine process being akin to a prison sentence.
For the last three weeks, DeGeneres' popular talk show had been temporarily axed due to the stay-at-home order to stave off the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States.
But that did not stop the bubbly celeb from presenting an ad-hoc episode recorded from one of her Californian homes.
Unfortunately, the show that was released last Wednesday saw the comedienne comparing her self-isolation in a multimillion-dollar mansion to being incarcerated.
DeGeneres, seen lounging in an armchair on a lush grassy lawn with a panoramic mountain vista, said: "One thing that I've learned from being in quarantine is that people, this is like being in jail, is what it is."
"It's mostly because I've been wearing the same clothes for 10 days and everyone in here is gay," she said.
After laughing at her own joke, she then praised health workers and other personnel on the frontlines for their tireless effort and sacrifice in battling the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to news reports, many viewers did not take kindly to DeGeneres' tone-deaf joke and took to social media to express their displeasure.
"I have actual friends and loved ones who are currently incarcerated. They are locked down in horrific conditions and terrified what is going to happen to them. Your 'joke' about being quarantined at home being like that is unfunny and disrespectful," tweeted social justice activist Diana #FreeThemAll4PublicHealth.
Another irate viewer named Caleb Grossman wrote: "Hey @TheEllenShow, prisoners across this country are trapped in 24-hour quarantine in cells that are probably about the size of one of your showers & others are sleeping 3 feet away from sick inmates. And they're dying. You aren't experiencing anything close to prison."
Apparently, more than 280 inmates and 400 staff in New York prisons have been infected with Covid-19 and at least seven people have died, according to the New York Department of Corrections.
Many prisons in other American cities have also reported Covid-19 cases and deaths among inmates.
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the US hard and news reports have stated that there have been over 468,000 Covid-19 cases and close to 17,000 deaths in total so far in the country.