Ellen DeGeneres speaks out on One Million Moms controversy, Bill O'Reilly defends her (Video)

Since openly gay talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has been named the spokesperson for J.C. Penney, conservative group One Million Moms have strongly come forward to blast the hiring.

The group is going as far as organizing a boycott against DeGeneres’ appointment of spokesperson and now even Bill O’Reilly is blasting this group.

"If you remember with the McCarthy era of the 1950s and they were trying to hunt down communist sympathizers and not let them work and put them on a blacklist…what is the difference between the McCarthy era of the '50s and the Million Moms saying, 'Hey, JCPenny and all you other stores, don't you hire gay people. Don't you dare.' What's the difference?" he asked his viewers, E! Online reports.

Saying the antagonism is not “in the spirit of America,” O’Reilly also said on The O’Reilly Factor "This JCPenny thing is a witchhunt and shouldn't happen.”

Since One Million Moms’ outcry over DeGeneres, she herself hasn’t come forward to defend herself. Until now.

Entertainment Weekly reports that on her show, which airs Wednesday, DeGeneres tells her audience in her opening monologue “They [One Million Moms] wanted to get me fired and I am proud and happy to say that J.C. Penney stuck by their decision to make me their spokesperson.”

“Being gay or pro-gay isn’t a bandwagon. You don’t get a free ride anywhere. There’s no music. And occasionally we’ll sing ‘We Are Family’ but that’s about it,” she added, concluding “I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated, and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values.”

Watch O’Reilly defend DeGeneres below:

Watch DeGeneres’ response below: