Ellen DeGeneres is done with being 'the dancing lady'

Ellen DeGeneres wants to stop dancing and instead focus on being “an ally fighting for change”.

The talk show host, who famously opens her episodes with a dance alongside audience members, wants to use her platform more constructively amid the Black Lives Matter movement, and she called on other white people to do better when it comes to equality.

“I've tried to use my platform to raise awareness on different issues over the years,” Ellen said in a video posted to Instagram.

“I like to think I'm doing my best, but I think it's time that we have to look out ourselves and we have to say we have not done enough.

“I want to learn how to be a better person, how to do better. I was the dancing lady for a little while and now I want to help educate my audience. I want to educate myself.”

Ellen DeGeneres dancing with audience on The Ellen Show
The talk show host famously opens her episodes with a dance alongside audience members. Photo: The Ellen Show

The 62-year-old star also again voiced her support for protesters “exercising their rights”, and insisted such important issues have “been ignored for far too long”.

She added: “I stand with the protesters who are exercising their rights and I want to be an ally fighting for change. As a white person I don't always know what to say.

“I think right now, white people have to just sit in our discomfort We have to admit that there's a lot we don't know about black people's lives and a black person's experience.

“And there is horrible injustice towards black people that has been ignored for far too long.”

ellen degeneres instagram video
Ellen said she wanted to do better in a clip shared with her 90 million followers. Photo: Instagram/thellenshow

The video was shared last week and since then Ellen has used her Instagram account to amplify the voices of prominent Black people such as filmmaker Ava DuVernay and minister Bernice King.

It comes after Ellen recently spoke out after Black man George Floyd died in police custody in the US, sparking violent protests not only in America but around the world.

“People have gotten away with murder and that's what is happening. So, we've gotta see fairness and we've gotta see justice for all, because right now, this is not a fair world,” she said.

Former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin’s charge over the killing of George Floyd has since been elevated to second-degree murder and the three other officers involved have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

With reporting by Bang Showbiz.

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