On Wednesday's episode of "Ellen," host Ellen DeGeneres sat down with James Shaw Jr. — the 29-year-old Nashvillian now known as the "Waffle House Hero" after wrestling a gun away from a shooter at a Waffle House in Antioch, Tenn.
During his interview with DeGeneres, Shaw recounted the events of the April 22 attack, which left four dead.
"Wow...You're a really brave man," DeGeneres said, and her audience broke into applause. She also asked Shaw how he felt about being called a hero.
"I don't have a problem with it," he said. "It's just if you're in that same situation, I want you to know that a regular guy did it, and I want you to emulate that same thing, and know you have that fire inside yourself."
The two discussed the GoFundMe campaign Shaw had set up for funeral expenses for the victims, as well as the campaign for Shaw and his daughter set up by journalist Yashar Ali.
James Shaw Jr., who stopped the Waffle House shooter, becomes emotional as he holds his 4-year-old daughter, Brooklyn, at a vigil for the shooting victims.
More: Waffle House hero James Shaw Jr. surpasses $100K raised for shooting victims
DeGeneres announced that show sponsor Shutterfly was donating $20,000 to Ali's campaign for Shaw. She then presented him with the full check from GoFundMe, totaling $225,000.
That wasn't the only surprise DeGeneres had for Shaw: she brought out his favorite basketball player, NBA star Dwyane Wade. She said Wade "dropped everything" to surprise Shaw on the show.
"I know you don't want to be called a hero, but I look at you as an American hero," Wade told him."
"When I sit down with my kids, and I talk to them about role models, who I want them to look up to, I would tell them to look up to James Shaw, Jr."
He also asked Shaw, "What do you want to see come from all of this?"
"It's a public health problem that we have," Shaw responded. "It's a mental health problem that the United States as a whole has. 1 in 5 individuals in the United States suffer from some kind of mental disorder. That's close to like 45 million people. So that's a very large and eye-raising problem. So I want to bring some kind of awareness to it."
Wade then pulled out a check from him to Shaw for $20,000.
"I knew Ellen was doing something," Wade said. "I couldn't be outdone."
