People are calling Ellen DeGeneres out for a controversial tweet about Usain Bolt

Twitter/@TheEllenShow/Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Ellen DeGeneres' tweet did not go over well.

Ellen DeGeneres is facing a wave of backlash after the Twitter account for her TV show tweeted out a joke about Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt that some users thought was racist - or at the very least, insensitive. 

The "Finding Dory" voice actress shared an altered version of the now-iconic picture of the Jamaican sprinter casually looking back at his competition while winning the 100-meter dash. DeGeneres' tweet showed the host clinging to Bolt's back, Yoda-style, and the caption "This is how I'm running errands from now on."

The picture had already become meme-fodder, as tons of Photoshop whizzes and caption-writing experts have had a field day riffing on the iconic image, so DeGeneres probably just thought her brand would join in on the fun. 

Though Bolt is very fast, the implication that a black man should carry around a white person to do errands rubbed some on Twitter the wrong way. 

 DeGeneres did not delete the tweet (she hasn't yet, at least), but she defended herself in a follow-up tweet.

"I am highly aware of the racism that exists in our country," she wrote. "It is the furthest thing from who I am." 

DeGeneres probably didn't mean to be offensive with her tweet, but this response is pretty tone-deaf. "I am highly aware of the racism that exists in our country," isn't exactly a reassuring response coming from a wealthy white woman especially when the point of the people who DeGeneres offended is, in their opinion, that she isn't really aware of it.