Welp, Ellen DeGeneres is in the hot seat. After posting an old photo of herself, wife Portia de Rossi, and Katy Perry from 2013 on Twitter in honor of Katy’s birthday on Wednesday, the internet is pretty peeved.

While many celebs (like One Direction's Niall Horan) shared birthday wishes with the "Swish, Swish," singer, only Ellen's caused a significant stir. She captioned the photo “Happy birthday @KatyPerry! It’s time to bring out the big balloons!”

And though the words are seemingly in reference to Katy’s 2013 song “Birthday” (one of the lines is: “It’s time to bring out the big balloons”), it seems to be a double entendre. Ellen is seen staring, mouth agape, at Katy’s breasts.

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The post, which has received over 50,000 likes and 8,800 retweets, has gotten some backlash. Considering the convo around sexual harassment has reached a fever pitch due to the allegations against former film executive Harvey Weinstein and director and writerJames Toback, people are feeling the need to call her out.

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Other people chimed in to defend Ellen:

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For her part, Ellen has spoken out against sexual harassment. During the opening monologue of her show on October 19, she began by saying she applauds all the people who use the hashtag “Me Too,” and called them brave. “I think it’s important to speak out and not by shame by anyone. It is not always easy but we have to do that. And that’s why I posted and I will say it right now out loud, ‘Me Too.'”

What do you think? Do you think Ellen’s photo of Katy was all in good fun? Or inappropriate?

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Jessica Migala
Jessica Migala is a health writer specializing in general wellness, fitness, nutrition, and skincare, with work published in Women’s Health, Glamour, Health, Men’s Health, and more. She is based in the Chicago suburbs and is a mom to two little boys and rambunctious rescue pup.