President Obama was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week, and made the host emotional during their discussion of gay rights.

Ellen first told the president that she could not thank him enough for all that he's done for the gay community, and all he has done for gay rights.

"It’s one of the things I’m proudest of because my whole political career has been based on the idea that we constantly want to include people and not exclude them," Obama said.

But it was when the president turned the tables and delivered that praise back to Degeneres that the talk show host began to get choked up.

He said:

“I will say, we were driving over here today — and I meant this. I said it to my staff — I said, 'As much as we’ve done with laws and ending don’t ask, don’t tell, et cetera, changing hearts and minds — I don’t think anybody has been more influential than you on that.' I really mean that. You being willing to claim who you were, that suddenly empowers other people. And then suddenly, it’s your brother, it’s your uncle, it’s your best friend, it’s your coworkers. And then attitudes shift. And the law is followed, but it started with folks like you. I’m so proud of you.”

You can watch that part of the interview in the video below.