Ellen DeGeneres Sued for Making Fun of Woman’s Name with Breast Joke

A Georgia woman has filed a defamation lawsuit against Ellen DeGeneres after the comedienne poked fun at her name in a recent segment on her popular talk show.

Titi Pierce, an electronics engineer and real estate agent from Warner Robins, Georgia, sued DeGeneres this week for defamation, misappropriation of likeness, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to Kansas City NBC affiliate KSHB.

DeGeneres featured Pierce’s real estate business during the “What’s Wrong With These Signs” segment on her daily talk show, Ellen. During the skit, the 58-year-old comedian read the woman’s business sign, pronouncing Pierce’s name as “Titty Pierce” in an apparent joke about breasts.

Pierce, however, didn’t find the joke funny, claiming in her lawsuit that she pronounces her first name “Tee Tee.”

“In all 35 years of my life, no one has ever referred to Ms. Pierce as “Titty” until Defendant did so on February 22, 2016 on national television,” Pierce’s lawsuit says.

Below is a YouTube clip of the segment:

https://youtu.be/Hf_Hf9Mq6B0?t=2m42s

Pierce’s lawsuit also states that Ellen producers failed to blur out her personal cell phone number, which was visible on the sign during the skit. Pierce claims to have received “hundreds” of phone calls from the show’s viewers while she attended the funeral of a family member.

The woman is also suing DeGeneres for false light invasion of privacy.

“As a direct and proximate result of the Defendant’s conduct, Ms. Pierce has suffered stress, emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, anger and other mental pain and suffering,” the lawsuit says.

Pierce’s lawsuit says she attempted to contact the show to inform them about the blurring and the correct pronunciation of her name, but apparently no changes were made when the same episode re-aired on April 15, with no edits to protect Pierce’s privacy.

The lawsuit did say that Pierce’s information was blurred out when the segment was posted to the show’s official Facebook page and website.

This is not the first time the comedian has been sued. 

In 2009, record labels Warner Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and EMI sued the talk show host for playing over 1,000 songs during the “dance over” segment of Ellen without permission and for failing to pay for the licenses for the songs.

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson