President Obama stopped by The Ellen Degeneres Show last week, and praised Ellen for her work progressing LGBT rights.

On the show, which aired in the US on Friday, Ellen tried to thank Obama for all he has done for LGBT rights during his presidency – from repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, protecting LGBT employees and the landmark ruling which legalised gay marriage in all 50 states. Obama quickly turned the praise onto the influential talk show host.

As much as we’ve done with laws and ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, etc., changing hearts and minds, I don’t think anybody’s been more influential than you on that.…
Your courage, and you’re just really likable… You being willing to claim who you were then suddenly empowers other people. And then suddenly it’s your brother, it’s your uncle, it’s your best friend, it’s your co-workers. And then attitudes shift, and the laws followed. But it started with folks like you.
If you talk to advocacy groups, they’ll tell you a very similar narrative.Freedom to Marry in particular is credited with changing hearts and minds — which allowed the laws to change by building support — by getting people to simply come out to their friends and families. Once that happened, people realized that same-sex couples are, really, just like opposite-sex couples. And so change swept through America.”

WATCH THE INTERVIEW BELOW: