Ellen Page delivered an emotional condemnation of Vice President Mike Pence on Colbert Thursday night.
The 31-year-old actress was invited on the show to discuss her upcoming Netflix series The Umbrella Academy which drops on Feb. 15. Instead, Page and Colbert’s conversation focused mostly on the state of LGBTQ people in Hollywood and the effect of global climate change on the environment. In a passionate speech that quickly went viral, Page slammed Pence for his treatment of the LGBTQ community.
“He has hurt LGBTQ people so badly,” Page said of Pence. “Connect the dots. This is what happens.” The actress noted how fortunate she was to have “the privilege to say this.” She called out Pence for his past actions toward the LGBTQ community—in particular, his past support for conversion therapy.
“If you are in a position of power and you hate people, and you want to cause suffering to them, you spend your career trying to cause suffering, what do you think is going to happen?” Page said. “Kids are going to be abused, and they’re going to kill themselves. And people are going to be beaten on the street.”
Opinions online are predictably split. Many people lauded Page for using her platform to speak out, while others criticized her use of an interview to push a political point.
Ellen Page is my fucking hero. https://t.co/e3NtFguaE9
— Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) February 1, 2019
Immensely powerful and passionate pleas from Ellen Page that everyone should listen to. #LSSC
— Steffanie (@sincerely_steff) February 1, 2019
“Immensely powerful and passionate pleas from Ellen Page that everyone should listen to,” Twitter user @sincerely_steff wrote. User @rflatt10, on the other hand, was furious over the exchange. “Shame on you Ellen page (sic) for using the Colbert show as your own political forum,” he wrote. “And you act as if your part of the snowflake generation that can’t stop whining about every damn thing, like you invented being gay. STFU and grow up. Maga. Trump forever.”
Shame on you Ellen page for using the Colbert show as your own political forum. And you act as if your part of the snowflake generation that can’t stop whining about every damn thing, like you invented being gay. STFU and grow up. Maga. Trump forever
— Ryan Flatt (@rflatt10) February 1, 2019
I live on the West Coast, watching “THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT” with Ellen Page. Man, she just got real about the current Administration and the hatred it spews. She got a standing ovation, as well it should be. Man that was heart felt & powerful.
— Goffyfooter (I go left) (@debrahubert51) February 1, 2019
The speech also blamed Pence for the recent, apparent hate crime against Empire actor Jussie Smollett.
“He has hurt LGBTQ people so badly as the governor of Indiana,” Page said, “and I think the thing we need to know, and I hope my show Gaycation did this in terms of connecting the dots, in terms of what happened the other day to Jussie, I don’t know him personally, I send all of my love, connect the dots.”
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