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Ellen DeGeneres Sued After Making ‘Breast’ Joke About Woman’s Name

By Effie Orfanides
Published on: 09:31 PST, Jun 7, 2016

Ellen DeGeneres is being sued by a Georgia woman after making a joke about the woman’s name. According to the Metro, Titi Pierce has filed legal documents naming DeGeneres’ popular talk show as the defendant after Ellen mispronounced her name on national television during a recent episode of The Ellen Show. The show has aired twice, causing Ms. Pierce double the aggravation, frustration, and embarrassment.

Pierce, who works as a real estate agent, sent in a photo for Ellen’s segment, “What’s Wrong With These Ads And These Signs?” As Ellen read the name of the woman who sent in the photo, she called her “Titty” instead of “Tee Tee” which is how the name is correctly pronounced.

Of course, mispronouncing names isn’t all that uncommon, but it was Ellen’s follow-up joke that really upset Ms. Pierce. The comedian made a joke about breasts (a play on “titty”), cracking her audience up.

“Titty Pierce, sounds like she might have spent some time in that nipple home, I don’t know,” Ellen said during the segment, which you can watch below.

Ellen DeGeneres now finds herself at the center of a lawsuit, with Pierce seeking unspecified monetary damages and requesting that the episode be taken off the air completely. Pierce also claims that the original show actually had her telephone number displayed and not blurred out. Pierce says that she has since received a lot of harassing phone calls following the show’s apparent mistake.

“[The lawsuit] also [highlights] how producers didn’t blur out Ms. Pierce’s mobile number during the segment, leading to her receiving ‘ridiculing and harassing’ calls while attending a family funeral.”

Ellen DeGeneres has not spoken out publicly about the lawsuit. According to the Kansas City Star, Titi Pierce’s attorney has talked about the point of this lawsuit, saying that her client is just trying to stand up for what is right and hinting that her client deserves an apology from Ellen.

“In all of her 35 years of life, no one has ever referred to Ms. Pierce as ‘titty’ until the Defendant did so on February 22, 2016, on national television… [Ms. Pierce want to] stand up and say this is wrong and this is not how we treat people. We need to be more thoughtful than this. She’s a real person with real feelings. She is a private, proud person, and she was humiliated on national television not once, but twice,” said Pierce’s attorney, Stacey Godfrey Evans.

Ellen DeGeneres sued
Ellen DeGeneres (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

The Ellen DeGeneres lawsuit is making headlines this week with people taking one of two sides. Some people think that Ellen’s comment crossed a line that it didn’t need to cross and think that Ms. Pierce has every right to be upset. Other people think that Ms. Pierce is being way too sensitive and that her lawsuit is absolutely ridiculous. Which side are you on?

A spokesperson for Warner Bros. declined to comment on the lawsuit.

For anyone wondering, Titi means “flower” in Nigerian.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

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