"The Ellen DeGeneres Show"/ Telepictures Productions
"I'm not political, so I'm not going to talk about the travel ban," she said on Tuesday's "Ellen Show." "I'm just going to talk about the very nonpolitical, family-friendly, People's Choice-award winning 'Finding Dory.'
Although DeGeneres is the voice behind the animated movie's titular character, she wasn't simply being promotional. Trump actually hosted a screening of the movie for his family, employees, and their kids on Sunday - the day after he signed the executive order temporarily blocking travelers from entering the US from seven predominately Muslim countries and banned all refugees from entering for the following 120 days and banned all Syrian refugees indefinitely.
DeGeneres went on to explain that Dory the fish was in Australia, but her parents were in the US. In the film, she and her fellow fish friends, Marlin and Nemo, travel to America only to find themselves in a marine aquarium, behind a large wall.
"They all have to get over the wall, and you won't believe it, but that wall has almost no effect in keeping them out," DeGeneres said, a clear gesture toward Trump's planned wall between Mexico and the US.
Back to "Finding Dory": Amid Dory's misadventures in America, she gets separated from her family and needs help. Here's where DeGeneres packs a punch to Trump's ban.
"But the other animals help Dory. Animals that don't even need her. Animals that don't have anything in common with her," the host said. "They help her, even though they're completely different colors. Because that's what you do when you see someone in need - you help them."
DeGeneres then concluded by telling viewers, "So that is what I hope everyone who's watching 'Finding Dory' has learned. Tune in next week when I explain women's rights talking about the movie 'Mr. Wrong.'"
For DeGeneres and those of you who hoped that Trump may have gleaned some of the lessons learned from Dory's story, we have bad news. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer made it clear that the president didn't actually watch the movie. He made some opening remarks and left.
Watch DeGeneres criticize Trump's immigration ban using the "Finding Dory" plot below:
Updating Sunday tweet: @PressSec said Pres Trump spent only 60 secs introducing "Finding Dory" to guests. Didn't stay for the movie.
- Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 31, 2017