A Boob Joke Gets Ellen DeGeneres Sued

Ellen DeGeneres has found herself in some hot water. It happened during the airing of the segment, What’s Wrong With These Ads…And These Signs, on everyone’s favorite afternoon talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. During the segment, she displayed the for sale sign of a real estate agent named Titi Pierce. *lols commence*

During the segment and for the sake of the joke, Ellen mispronounced Titi (properly as TEE-TEE) as ‘Titty’ because hahahahaha boobs are funny. But the name is actually Nigerian for flower. So not only is the joke insensitive, it’s a little jingoistic. As per Dlisted:

Titi doesn’t think that making fun of a name that looks like a service at a questionable body piercing shop is very funny, and she’s decided to sue.

The NY Daily News reports on the lawsuit:

Prior to defendant’s misdeeds, Ms. Pierce has been called only by her name ‘Titi,’ which, as grammar dictates, is pronounced ‘TEE TEE”

And now after Ellen had aired the episode twice with Pierce’s contact information, the real estate agent has not stopped receiving prank calls making fall of her name further. The lawsuit cites:

Titi says she has been humiliated by the segment, and accuses Ellen of intentionally inflicting emotional distress.

Seems like a really good payday for Titi and a pretty cheap jab from a very intelligent comedian. We should expect more.

[H/T Dlisted, image: NYDN]