Ellen DeGeneres JC Penney Gig: Talk Show Host Gives it Back to One Million Moms [VIDEO]

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres broke her silence on the backlash surrounding her new gig as a JC Penney spokeswoman.

In a clip from her show's Wednesday episode that was posted online, DeGeneres addressed what she called her haters, specifically, the online organization One Million Moms (OMM), which is part of the American Family Association.

OMM had slammed the department store's decision to hire DeGeneres on their Web site and on their Facebook page.

Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families, the group wrote on their Web site. More sales will be lost than gained unless they replace their spokesperson quickly. Unless JC Penney decides to be neutral in the culture war then their brand transformation will be unsuccessful.

DeGeneres joked about her new gig with the audience and said she was thrilled to be the department store chain's newest spokesperson.

Not only because I think it's a great store but also because I get a great employee discount, she cracked. I could use some new T-shirts.

Then she addressed her haters.

Normally I try not to pay attention to my haters, but this time I'd like to talk about it because my haters are my motivators, she said.

She expressed gratitude that JC Penney stuck by their decision to keep her on and joked about a very different spokesperson.

If they have a problem with spokespeople what about the Pillsbury Doughboy? she said. He runs around without any pants on. Basically begging for people to poke his belly. What kind of message is that?

She read parts of the message OMM posted on their Facebook page on Feb. 1, which included the following: By jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon, JC Penney is attempting to gain a new target market and in the process will lose customers with traditional values that have been faithful to them over all these years.

DeGeneres set the record straight about the pro-gay bandwagon.

First of all being gay or pro-gay is not a bandwagon, she said. You don't get a free ride anywhere. There's no music and occasionally we'll sing 'We are Family' but that's about it.

She pointed out how that the same Facebook page had several messages of encouragement, including the following: I am a Christian and part of a traditional family and I support Ellen and now JC Penney!!!!

The comedian also took a jab at OMM's numbers, noting although the group calls itself One Million Moms, it only has about 40,000 Facebook members.

They're rounding to the nearest million and I get that, she said.