Ellen DeGeneres defends her Usain Bolt tweet some claimed was racist

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287. It doesn't matter whether she meant to offend

You are missing the point. If I tell a joke or make a "pun" and in my mind it is completely innocent and meant to be light hearted, but due to perhaps a lack of culture awareness, however brief, that person my pun was intended to charecterize finds it offensive, then it falls on me to apologize and understand why that individual found the joke to be offense. Culture awareness is always one of the hardest aspects of life for most people to understand, and all of us are guilty of failing that test every now and again. I do not think Ellen is a racist, and I do not think she meant anything by this pun, but nevertheless, others - many people of color, did find this offensive and borderline racist, and Ellen did the right thing by apologizing.