Former employees at The Ellen DeGeneres Show say the comedian’s new stand-up special on Netflix is a case study in evasion and self-deception.
From the beginning of the show, which opens with a montage of DeGeneres’ comedy history, the former talk show host is delusional, they say.
The one-time sitcom star, who pulled the plug on her daytime chat show in 2020 after allegations of staff abuse, has said repeatedly — including at the top of her Netflix special — that she was “kicked out of show business” twice: once for coming out as gay on her primetime ABC show, and once for being mean.
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Former talk show staffers told Rolling Stone the claim is ironic.
“She made millions of dollars doing a Netflix special talking about how she got canceled, but by nature of making millions of dollars to do a Netflix special, you were not silenced,” one former staffer says. “You were not kicked out of Hollywood. Most people can’t get Netflix specials.”
One former employee went on to say they admired DeGeneres for years before working for her, which is why witnessing her behavior behind the scenes was so disappointing. Ellen displayed the same kind of self-justifying deception at work as she did on stage in the special, they said.
While DeGeneres may have a point that Hollywood was cruel and discriminatory to her, they said, she still fostered an unwelcoming environment behind the scenes of her show. Both things can be true at once, the former staffer said.
“Even if [her cancellation] was because she was mean, that is something that she has done to other people, whereas being gay is about her being judged, and it’s interesting that she can’t see it outside of the lens of herself,” the employee said.
“It only exists as either ‘it’s happening to me because I am a strong woman’ or ‘it’s happening to me because I am gay,’” they added. “It’s impossible that ‘these are the consequences for my actions.’ That doesn’t even come into her brain that these are consequences.”
According to another actor in DeGeneres’ “cancelation” drama, one mischaracterization occurs right at the top of her show in that video montage, which displays a misdated screenshot of a call for stories about “Ellen being mean” that the comedian says helped lead to her downfall.
In March 2020, podcast host Kevin Porter solicited backstage gossip about the host with a promise to match the items with donations to the LA Food Bank as the COVID pandemic was just starting. Porter called his tweet “quite lightweight and just “juicy gossip,” but it became a “scapegoat for the negative attention. It was a pretty masterful reframing and dodge of everything.”
Staff members were particularly appalled by DeGeneres seeking sympathy for the toll she says the talk show allegations took on her mental health.
A former writer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show used the example of her penchant for pranks that would intentionally frighten staffers, among them a years-long “tag” game in her “fun” and “carefree” work environment.
“It is true that she scared people, but that’s not always a comfortable workplace to be in where you’re on edge that at some point someone’s going to jump out of your closet and it’s the person that you’re most scared of. I would have nightmares for years after that she would be chasing me, and I wasn’t even involved in that tag game.”
“Literally, the sight of her gives me a trauma response,” said one staffer.
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