Ellen DeGeneres has hit back at the "haters" who are trying to get her fired.

The talk show host had signed on to be a spokesperson for American store JC Penney but a group called One Million Moms have been campaigning to have her removed from the post because she's gay.

Ellen addressed the issue on her talk show on the back of a federal appeals court overturning California's ban on same sex marriage yesterday.

"You all may know that I recently teamed up with JC Penney," Ellen said. "I'm happy about it. JC Penny is happy about it. But there's a group called One Million Moms that isn't happy about it."

The organisation had released a statement requesting that Ellen be fired because of her sexuality.

"By jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon, JC Penney is attempting to gain a new target market and in the process will lose customers with traditional values that have been faithful to them over all these years," it read. "The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there."

But Ellen fired back saying she wanted to be "clear" about the "values" she stands for.

"I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you'd want to be treated and helping those in need," she told her audience. "To me, those are traditional values. That's what I stand for."

Ellen tied the knot with actress Portia de Rossi in 2008.