OK - this is Guy here.
First of all, if you've watched any reasonably diverse selection of anime you will see stuff FAR more varied than gets discussed on a daytime talk show in the US. Hint: "Gravitation?" "Kyo kara Maou." You get the picture.
Me, I'm open to just about anything that doesn't hurt or constrain me physically, or doesn't try to force what *they* believe on me; as long as I'm not forced or participate or socially forced to act like I agree. And if I don't like it I'm supposed to be free to walk away and try another converation - no hard feelings all around. But sooner or later we will all run into someone who is appalled at what we believe. The question is, can each of us still have a challenging game of shogi with that person? Can we cooperate, and even have fun and fellowship in other realms where our enthusiams are in common, and our conflicting beliefs are irrelevant?
I spent 3 years in southern Indiana (help! - they had cross-burnings in that county!) I also remember the time I met someone who was a Holocaust denier - You can't ram your reality down their throat because it's not reality to them. I just answered truthfully "I dont' know about that," or "I disagree," when I had countervailing facts. Now, what if that guy were an anime fan - do we turn him away, even if he likes Macross Zero? No - you can have fun, and he can have fun; with a little social sensitivity he'll learn not to spout off things that turn most people off, and you'll learn not to bring up stuff about Kaballistic symbols in 'Evangelion' around him because you'll learn that that sets him off and creates a hall-crater of people trying to disengage, be somewhere else, and NOT participate.
Anyways, MY 2-cents would be:
(a) a celebrity like Ellen, or Oprah, or whoever, quirky and fun or not, might expect GOBS of $$$ as a speaking fee, or a showing-up fee. Nicole Kidman just got more mollah to do a Chanel commercial than she got for some of her earlier feature films.
(b) I agree with the person who mentioned that a non-anime based celebrity would draw a lot of people who aren't "about" anime or its reasonably related subjects (gaming and game characters, J-pop, traditional Japanese culture, etc) What does Ellen have to do with anime?
OK, my $0.02.
- G