Ellen Degeneres has attracted vociferous criticism over a recent tweet she directed to Katy Perry, with many decrying the presenter as “sexist” and as having “double standards”.

The daytime talk show host tweeted on Wednesday (October 25th) to wish the pop megastar a happy 33rd birthday.

“Happy birthday, @KatyPerry! It’s time to bring out the big balloons!” the 59 year old presenter wrote, captioning a picture of her gawping open-mouthed at Perry’s breasts, in an attempt at humour as it referenced the lyrics to the star’s ‘Birthday’ hit.

However, many followers on Twitter failed to see what was funny about the image as it went viral throughout the day, with many pointing out that, particularly in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal that has engulfed Hollywood, had a male written a similar tweet then they would be absolutely poleaxed.

Actor Michael Rapaport replied, according to The Wrap, saying “the world would stop” if a male had tried a similar thing. Daily Mail writer Piers Morgan also slammed DeGeneres, claiming she would be the first to lead the “cries of ‘SEXIST PIG!’” in that situation.

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“For Ellen’s next trick, she’ll explain to us all how objectifying women is a bad thing,” read one reaction to the image, while another said: “It’s not harassment if Ellen DeGeneres does it.”

Ellen DeGeneresEllen DeGeneres

On her show, DeGeneres has given a platform to the ‘#MeToo’ Twitter campaign that took off in the wake of the Weinstein allegations, a movement to display the everyday nature of sexual harassment and abuse that women suffer daily.

“This is not a male thing or a female thing, it is not a Hollywood or political thing, this is a human thing and it happens in the workplace, it happens in families, it happens all over the world and we are all the same,” she said in her opening monologue. “We all want the same thing, we want respect, love and kindness. And if I could have those three things and an iPhone X, I’d be happy.”

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