As Kim Kardashian continues to face widespread scorn over her lavish 40th birthday bash in Tahiti amid the coronavirus pandemic, she knew she could rely on Ellen DeGeneres to give her and her family a platform to defend themselves against another scandal.

After all, DeGeneres’s show has become known as the family’s “go-to press shop” for spreading their “propaganda,” according to a 2019 Vice report.

As has been widely reported, Kim Kardashian’s younger sister Khloe Kardashian made a stop at DeGeneres’s “press shop” on Thursday, where the host laughingly asked her about the getaway, which generated viral memes and outrage over a celebrity’s extravagant display of privilege while people are sick and dying from COVID-19, or while they haven’t been able to gather with their own friends and family for months.

Earlier this week, Kim posted multiple photos on Twitter and Instagram and shared how she had hosted a large group on a trip to a luxury resort on a private island. DeGeneres cheekily noted that “Kim got in trouble” for flaunting pictures of the trip, which reportedly took place on the late Marlon Brando’s private Tahitian island.

Khloe Kardashian said she understood people’s “frustration” but tried to downplay her sister’s perceived insensitivity. Some pointed out that the trip violated California’s COVID-19 guidelines against non-essential travel.

Khloe insisted the group of 20 to 25 took precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. She also praised her sister for generously giving work to the resort’s employees after months of a pandemic lockdown. Khloe then waxed poetically about how, overall, it was “a beautiful experience” for the birthday girl and her guests.

“I just want Kim to focus on how beautiful it was and what she did for everyone,” Khloe said. “I don’t want (the controversy) to overshadow all the greatness of it.”

DeGeneres responded, “Exactly.”

With that one word, DeGeneres seemed to be telling her audience that she was exercising her power as a famous talk-show host to pronounce that this should be the final discussion on the matter.

Of course, DeGeneres’s moral authority on matters of ethical celebrity conduct has diminished in recent months — certainly since she tried to give cover to friend Kevin Hart in 2019 after his homophobic tweets surfaced. DeGeneres has been embroiled in a controversy of her own, centering on allegations of racism, sexual misconduct and mistreatment of her show’s staff, along with longstanding reports she hasn’t always been so kind to people who aren’t rich and famous.

DeGeneres’s displays of kindness to the Kardashians may be an extension of her longtime friendship with Kim’s controversial rapper husband Kanye West, Vice reported. In any case, DeGeneres has had Kim, Khloe, Kanye, Kris Jenner and other family members on her show multiple times since 2010, Vice reported.

In their appearances, DeGeneres will allow them to field “softball questions” about “their latest scandal, controversy or life-changing dramatic moment” in a loving environment “surrounded by audience members who would applaud anyone on that stage,” Vice added.

DeGeneres then gives them the chance to pitch their latest project or product — from a new season of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” to Kim’s new line of perfume.

Over the years, the Kardashians have relied on DeGeneres’ show to deflect controversy, push their narratives or claim a moral high ground over a number of issues, including: Lamar Odom’s overdose; Caitlyn Jenner coming out as a transgender woman; Tristan Thompson cheating on Khloe; and Kendall Jenner’s widely reviled, tone-deaf Pepsi commercial.

On multiple occasions, DeGeneres also has allowed either Kim Kardashian or Kris Jenner to downplay concerns about Kanye West’s mental instability, his unhinged tweets, his inflammatory remarks about race and slavery, his support of President Donald Trump and, most recently, his problematic run for president.

Several days after West posted a photo of himself wearing a Make America Great Again hat, on April 25, 2018, Kim Kardashian appeared on DeGeneres’ show to laugh off his tweets and to say she didn’t always know what he meant by them. “But you live with him,” DeGeneres joked, while also engaging her in a chat about their anniversary plans and Kim’s new perfume.

Several days later, on May 1, 2018, West appeared on TMZ to declare slavery is “a choice.” A week later, Kris Jenner turned up on DeGeneres’ show, where DeGeneres gently asked, “Is Kanye OK?” The question allowed Jenner to describe West as a loving person who will one day “explain himself in his own way.”

Five months later, in October 2018, West made a bizarre visit to the president in the Oval Office, where he praised the “male energy” he got from wearing one of Trump’s MAGA hats.

Two weeks later, Kris Jenner was back on DeGeneres’s show, where the host  mildly expressed concern that people were seeing “a different side” of West. Jenner acknowledged that her son-in-law “has a big voice” and “a lot to say” but defended him as “an amazing son-in-law,” as well as father, husband and brother-in-law. “He knows we’re there if he needs us,” she said.

Less than a month later, Kim Kardashian was on DeGeneres’s show and didn’t at all address the Oval Office visit or her husband’s praise of Trump’s male MAGA energy. Instead, she talked about how her husband would most love “just being a dad … be Dad-ye full-time, like a Manny.”

Kim Kardashian hasn’t been on DeGeneres’s show since West announced his bizarre and contentious run for president in 2020. Back in 2015, she told DeGeneres she believed his presidential aspirations were “serious.”

This summer, she acknowledged in a statement that he has been struggling with an episode of bipolar disorder, during which he unleashed rants at a campaign rally and on Twitter about abortion and about his wife and her family trying to put him in a hospital.

Perhaps Kim Kardashian is due for another visit to DeGeneres to talk about West — and her new shapewear line. It’s not likely, though, that DeGeneres would ask Kim Kardashian hard questions about his campaign, which has faced scrutiny by serious news outlets over its ties to Trump associates, as well as concerns about possible election fraud and his campaign siphoning votes away from a legitimate candidate, Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

But on DeGeneres’s show, she could continue to defended West as a “brilliant but complicated” artist who deserves “empathy.”

Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian continued to generate controversy by posting more photos of the Tahitian getaway on Twitter and Instagram. Then on Thursday, she shared a hologram of her late father, O.J. Simpson attorney Robert Kardashian, which West made for her birthday. In his hologram form, Robert Kardashian danced along to a favorite song and praised his daughter for being an amazing mother and marrying “the most, most, most, most … genius man in the whole world, Kanye West.”

More controversy and debate followed, with people again raising concerns about the the privilege that allows West to share such a high-tech birthday gift. Others just found it “creepy” and “terrifying.”