Ellen DeGeneres hailed

Ellen DeGeneres has been hailed as a comic hero who 'changed the world' as she picked up the top prize in American comedy.

The comedian was praised for opening doors by incorporating her homosexuality into her mainstream sitcom, as she collected the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor .

'You really took one for the team,' gay Glee star Jane Lynch told her. 'I’m pretty darn sure I could not have the career I have, that I could not live as openly as I’ve lived, if it hadn’t been for you.'

'You’ve changed America,' said Will & Grace star Sean Hayes at the ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington. 'You’ve changed the world. We didn’t have a voice until there was you.'

And Lily Tomlin, a previous winner of the award, said: 'She went from stand-up to standing for something.'

Degeneres , now 54, came out as a lesbian in 1997. Shortly after her character on the ABC sitcom Ellen came out too – but the following year the show got cancelled. Another short-lived sitcom followed, but her career bounced back with a self-titled daytime talk show, which started in 2003.

Published: 24 Oct 2012