Transcription
Alen DeGeneres's career is the perfect example of the saying, "What goes around comes around." Even though her onscreen acts of generosity and slogan of "be kind" created a multi-award-winning talk show, Ellen's deplorable behavior behind the scenes bred a reputation so damaging that it would eventually undermine everything she built.
Let me see what else I can tell you about that been going on. Oh yeah, I got kicked out of Show Business. Yeah, hi, I'm the Incident Anarchist. I create weekly YouTube documentaries, and today we'll be delving deep into the world's deserved downfall of TV's most hated comedian, Ellen DeGeneres. How her persona of positivity captivated millions, who Ellen was when the cameras were off, and what happened to her career when these two parts of her life inevitably collided.
To say Ellen had a knack for stand-up comedy would be a gross understatement. Within 5 years of dropping out of college to pursue comedy, Ellen went from working an MC gig at a local pub to winning the award for the funniest female comedian in America and getting her first television appearance on the popular 80s talk show, "The Tonight Show."
"I'm always thinking about these things cuz to me life is very precious, it's very special. We're here for such a short time that everything on this Earth should have a reason, should have a beneficial purpose, and I feel like everything does except for fleas. Fleas do nothing at all beneficial. I always thought at times like this when we can't figure it out for ourselves, would it be great if we could just pick up the phone and call up God and ask him these things. Just pick up the phone and call up God. Yeah, hi God, this is Ellen. Alen DeGenerous. DeGenerous. What's so funny? No, I never thought of that. It does sound like that, doesn't it?"
Ellen's unique perspective on life, deadpan humor, and sardonic personality both entertained audience members and built a connection with them. While her stand-up routine was sometimes self-depreciating, Ellen always based her jokes on relatable, everyday situations, which gave her performance a broad appeal. This translated into Ellen starring in her own sitcom about a "neurotic bookstore owner who deals with life through comedy and extensive rambling."
"Oh my God, what'd you do that for? I can't believe you'd want to watch this. She's our friend. That's disgusting. Wait a minute, where'd you get this tape anyway? I don't know. By the TV, from that box. That's Anita's box apparently. What else in that box?"
While the series was a hit with fans and received multiple Emmy Awards, ABC canceled it in 1998 following the controversial puppy episode, which saw Ellen become the first openly homosexual lead character on a television show.
"Say the truth. I mean, be who I am. I'm 35 years old. I'm so afraid to tell people. I mean, I just Susan, I'm gay."
Even though she was able to get roles in other TV and movie productions, Ellen's first taste of controversy left an indelible mark on her career. "And the sitcom had been very successful, it wasn't, it went downhill. It did make a difference, huge. And then you had a very tough time. You couldn't get a job. What was that like? Not only couldn't get a job, couldn't get someone to on a phone. I mean, there literally, you know, the show was canceled and no one called me. It was just, I found out my assistant read it in the paper. Um, and you know, I felt sorry for myself. I felt like this isn't fair. I thought people liked me and why did this change anything and I still am the same person and you know every everything felt horrible to me."
However, entering the 2000s, Ellen's career would get a revival through a voice-acting role as Dory in the highly successful animated movie, "Finding Nemo." Ellen's performance as Dory positively impacted her career in three distinct ways: one, it reminded old viewers of what made Ellen's comedic style so special; two, it introduced her to a whole new viewer base; and three, it reignited interest in her career from Hollywood executives.
By the 8th of September 2003, Ellen made her debut as a daytime talk show host with the first episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
"Q cards are are right there and uh you may not think I need Q cards but uh every single thing I'm saying is uh is on the Q card. For instance, excuse me, my throat is so dry. Let me um show you right here uh we have [Applause] [Music] um."
While the show followed a standard Hollywood talk show formula, Ellen's positivity, upbeat personality, and wholesome interactions with guests and audience members were truly what set the show apart.
"It's minutes before showtime and Ellen DeGeneres is warming up the staff, warming up the people who didn't manage to get a seat in her studio, warming up herself, and finally warming up her studio audience for the show."
From making huge charity donations to giving gifts to her audience, Ellen always made her shows a feel-good experience for everyone watching.
"That's me on the front of this Cheerios box right there and uh here's the big part if you have a box of Cheerios under your seat I'm going to give you a special surprise gift so check and see if you have a box of Cheerios under your seat all right so all of you got isn't that interesting that what a coincidence all of you would get a box of Cheerios you're all going to share this gift it's the biggest gift I've ever given anybody ever and I hope you continue to pay it forward and share all the good hold on to your Cheerios because all of you are splitting 1 million."
Making the audience feel good is always good for the ratings, as "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" would run for almost 20 years, drawing millions of viewers per episode and win 80-plus awards. Combine this with Ellen's skillful use of social media to promote her show, and it's no wonder why she was a household name for so long. However, that success wouldn't last forever, as the public perception of the show and its host were gradually flipped on its head as viewers got a closer look behind Ellen's mask of positivity.
Throughout Ellen's time as a talk show host, there's always been a subtle but consistent undercurrent of resentments from people who either knew her personally or worked with her professionally. The first major signs of this would come during the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike. At the time, Ellen refused to side with her writers by crossing the picket line to continue working on the show. While some saw Ellen's decision as a necessary evil to maintain the jobs of the non-writing staff, others saw this choice as a selfish ploy to keep her ratings up.
Around this time, one of Ellen's former writers would make a blog post discussing who she really was when the cameras weren't rolling.
"We'd watch her in rehearsals smiling and winning us over with a charm and comic timing. Then the director would yell 'cut,' her face would fall, and she'll level a glare at the writers. 'Why do you keep writing these unfunny jokes?'"
"I'm disappointed in Ellen, but not surprised given what I've seen from her with my own two eyes."
While these claims wouldn't have much impact on Ellen's public image, this entire incident seeded the seeds of doubt in viewers' minds and opened the door to skepticism of her trademark acts of kindness. At the end of the day, if Ellen wasn't willing to show some compassion to the people she worked with, then was she worthy of being deemed as a kind person?
By the late 2010s, suspicion around her kind persona had festered to the point that people were making compilations of and writing articles about the worst things Ellen has ever done. From insensitive jokes about guests' personal lives to butchered acts of charity.
"We'll show pictures. I don't know if I'm going to do this. Yeah, you will. This is the one thing that I have. It's like the one shred of dignity that I have. Ring it on three different guys. We'll narrow it down. So ring it three different times. So then then it's still out there. We still don't know. So let's show some pictures. It at some point feel all right. I don't know what I'm you're supposed to ring why but I don't want to I don't want to I'll ring cuz they'll send me angry email I don't want to get I'll hold it for you. What are you doing to me? This is [Applause] me. Stop it. Stop it. Okay. All right. All right. This makes me feel so bad about myself every time I come up here you put like a different dude up there on the screen."
"Did you know your mom wrote that letter? I knew she entered me for a contest, but I didn't know. Yeah, that was really sweet of her. Yes. Okay, so you started college this year? Yeah. Okay. And how what are you studying? I'm uh um I'm a tou right now and I want I'm doing kind of my general EDS but I want to be I'm like pred Dental. Uh-huh. Wow, that's a lot of college. It's a lot. Yeah. How much is tuition? Um, it's like more than $50,000 right now. I get a little bit of financial aid, but yeah, it's a yeah, well, it's a lot. And uh your story is very sweet and so I talked to my friends at Shutterfly they want to help pay for sorry I'm sorry what does that mean? I just said okay so this is awkward but so um we're going to give you a computer um I mean I have we have the computer I have a computer but okay um but it's it's a iy it's a nice computer."
Users noted every single time Ellen let the mask slip and exposed her true intentions. A particularly egregious example of this was the infamous gift shop incident. During one of her episodes, Ellen tried to test the trustworthiness of her audience with a gift shop where people could only take one item.
"When I started the uh The Show 14 years ago I said this is going to be like a relationship and the most important thing the foundation of a good relationship is say it with me separate thermostats oh and then after that trust right trust is very important so before the show I put out some Ellen products with a sign that said only one per person and um I just wanted to see how honest my audience was you know cuz it turns out you're very honest very very honest we set up really amazing."
However, when one individual decided to break that rule, Ellen decided to make an example out of her.
"I'm I think okay I'm going to go you go [Applause] then she goes back and she returns one of her stolen items as punishment. Ellen would single her out of the crowd and humiliate her in front of everyone. I I really uh I'm sorry that's embarrassing and everything but you know let that be a lesson to you cuz you think it is you think nobody's watching you and you just need to be a good person just because you want to be a good person you go sit in that Ellen jail over there right now [Music] no no you no you'll steal stuff back there come here this [Applause] [Music] way what's what's your sister's name Anna all right."
While you could chalk these up to being isolated incidents, it became difficult to ignore Ellen's possible mean streak with the release of an article from The New York Times titled "Ellen DeGeneres is not as nice as you think." The post discussed Ellen's return to stand-up comedy, her struggle between being nice on camera and being a person with a broader spectrum of emotions, and her thoughts about people who didn't think she was a kind person.
"Reading that bugs me if someone is saying that because it's an outright lie. The first day I said the one thing I want is everyone here to be happy and proud of where they work and if not don't work here no one is going to raise their voice or not be grateful that's the rule to this day."
This statement suggested that Ellen's workplace had always been a place that fostered positivity and happiness. Unfortunately, the reality of working with Ellen was about to be revealed as anything but a happy experience.
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With that being said, let's get back into the video. On the 17th of July 2020, BuzzFeed released an article detailing the toxic work experiences of one current and 10 former employees of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
"Reading that 'be kind' bullshit only happens when the cameras are on. It's all for the show."
One former employee told BuzzFeed News, "I know they give money to people and help them out, but it's for sure…"
The former employees would also highlight instances of upper management making racist comments, playing favorites, and suppressing complaints of workplace toxicity.
"Reading 'I never felt like it was safe to go to my manager when I had issues because this was the same person who would wait for me to go to the bathroom and then message me asking me where I was and why I wasn't at my desk.'"
Even though Ellen might not be directly responsible for the toxic working conditions surrounding her show, people saw her as the face of talk show positivity and wanted to hold her accountable, especially when it's being relayed to the public as a long-running issue.
"Head a muskat was was with Ellen from the beginning in 2003 when the talk show was launched. We were told from the very beginning 'don't talk to Ellen, don't do this, you can't, you know, go into her office.' It was very nerve-wracking, very stressful. We all walked on eggshells all the time. Moat says despite Ellen's queen of nice reputation, it became clear early on that it would not be a pleasant place to work. One incident with executive producer Ed Glavin left her shaken. We were in our production meetings and she would watch go off on people. Ellen would look at Ed and she would laugh cuz I was hoping she was going to say 'Ed you can't be yelling at crew this way you can't be yelling at people this way.' She laughed and she said 'every production needs their dog,' meaning like meaning Ed is her dog like her attack dog. Her attack dog. So therefore she doesn't need to do that."
The claims made by staff only become more compelling when you factor in the viral Twitter thread from Kelvin Pner, which mentioned several unpleasant interactions with fans Ellen had over the years.
"Reading 'when I was 15, Ellen was doing a contest of fans making a bust of her and sending it to her. I worked so hard on this and even wrote her a letter. Weeks later she used it as a prop in a game and gave it away to a random person with $500 attached to the bottom.'"
In response to mounting public outrage, an immediate investigation and fired the three offending executives. Not long after, Ellen sent a memo to her employees addressing the controversy and trying to salvage the situation.
"Reading 'on day one of our show I told everyone in our first meeting that the Ellen DeGeneres Show would be a place of happiness. No one would ever raise their voice and everyone would be treated with respect. Obviously, something changed and I'm disappointed to learn that this has not been the case and for that I am sorry. Anyone who knows me knows it's the opposite of what I believe and what I hoped for our show. As we've grown exponentially I've not been able to stay on top of everything and relied on others to do their jobs as they knew I'd want them done. Clearly some didn't. That will now change and I'm committed to ensuring this does not happen again.'"
Staff wouldn't be the only people Ellen apologized to, as she addressed her audience in a similarly sympathetic fashion.
"I'm just so sorry that it's come to this. I really don't know what to say other than this has gone on way way way way too long. People have gotten away with murder and that's what's happening so we've got to see fairness and we've got to see justice for all because right now this is not a fair world, not at all."
Many viewers thought Ellen's vague apology was a hollow PR movement to win back public favor, but that didn't stop her from trying to paint a different narrative. By the start of season 18, Ellen would once again address viewers and reassure them that everything was perfectly fine, despite the opposite being the case.
"Um, as you may have heard this summer there were allegations of a toxic work environment at our show and then there was an investigation. I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected. I know that I'm in a position of privilege and power and I realize that with that comes responsibility and I take responsibility for what happens at my show. This is The Ellen DeGeneres Show. I am Ellen DeGeneres. My name is there. My name is there. We have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks about the show, our workplace, and what we want for the future. We have made the necessary changes and today we are starting a new chapter."
Apology or not, all of the internet's worst fears about Ellen's true motives had come to light, and no one was going to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, the fact that Ellen had been holding up a facade of happiness for so long meant that she was capable of faking anything and everything. As a result, Ellen's half-hearted apology cost the show over 1 million viewers, and that was only the beginning, as the downward trend would continue for the rest of season 18. Upper management could see the writing on the wall, and by May of 2021, Ellen announced that season 19 would be her last season.
"And today I have an announcement to make. Today I am announcing that next season, season 19, is going to be my last season. So the past 18 years you have to know has changed my life. You all have changed my life and I am forever grateful to all of you for watching, for laughing, for dancing, sometimes crying. This show has been the greatest experience of my life and I owe it all to you."
When asked about how she felt about the show ending, Ellen would try to play it off and describe it as an emotional experience for everyone.
"How did it feel in that moment to say it today? Yes, uh, you know, emotional um cuz I haven't been sleeping. I've been trying to you know anticipate how to tell them and you know hope that everybody would take it okay. A lot of people were very emotional and I got emotional so that was uh was that first step and then today was the first time telling you know everybody else so it was it was uh emotional."
However, when pressed about the controversy that spawned her low ratings, Ellen would be far less charitable with her words.
"I don't have to remind you there was an allegation of a toxic workplace. You had to get rid of three top managers here. People went after you personally. Did that have anything to do with this decision? Well, it certainly if if it was why I was quitting I would have not come back this year because everything happened what you're talking about is last summer and and honestly I really did think about not coming back because it it you know I mean it was devastating it was it because it started with me it started with attacks on me and attacking everything that I stand for and believe in and Built My Career around like I just I am a kind person I am a person who likes to make people happy I am a people pleased you know this is who I am."
There must be some truth to it cuz it's not stopping. Worse still, Ellen wouldn't take any accountability and describe the incident as a coordinated attack.
"I still don't understand it um yeah I thought I thought something was going on that that because it was too orchestrated it was too coordinated and you know people get picked on but for four months straight for me and then for you know for me to read in the Press about a toxic work environment when all I've ever heard from every guest that comes on the show is 'H what a happy atmosphere this is and how what a happy place it is.'"
Even though Ellen was the face and figurehead of the show, she made it seem like she didn't have full control over or knowledge of the workplace culture.
"People who were thinking 'how could you not know? And if you didn't know, should you have known?' I I don't know how I could have known when there's 255 employees here and there are a lot of different buildings and a lot of different um you know uh there's there different areas and and I delegate there are bosses to each different area. I am it is my name on the show so clearly it affects me and I have to be the one to stand up and say this can't be tolerated. We need to make changes. What what can I do and you know I just unless I literally you know stayed here until the last person goes home at night and and checked in with 255 people but I do wish somebody would have come to me and said 'hey something's going on that you should know about.' I had no idea."
As you'd imagine, no one was going to buy claims of ignorance, with commenters stating, "Guests talking about a happy atmosphere is very different than the atmosphere of staff working in." As well as, "You can treat celebrities on your show with a big smile, welcoming attitude, or and respect, but it's the way you treat those who aren't the celebrities, the staff, all the behind-the-scenes staff that really shows your character."
The disconnect was that Ellen saw the controversy as an isolated incident, while the audience and staff saw it as more of a systematic issue. In reality, Ellen's lack of sympathy, care, and concern for employees and fans proved that the show's inspirational and uplifting message was entirely manufactured, only being put at the forefront when the cameras were rolling.
What makes this even worse is how these revelations recontextualized the previous rumors about Ellen's behavior.
"This audience member on the Ellen show is now revealing how she went from thrilled to getting really upset. You just expect a lot when you go to meet like your idol and then when you get disappointed it's like such a let down."
In 2018, Dana DeMatio flew from Chicago to Los Angeles and was delighted to be picked out of the audience to have some fun with Ellen, but then she says she was shocked when she was briefed on the comedy bit by the producers.
"They tell you you know you can't be smarter funnier than Ellen. She's the comedian and the star, not you."
Ellen's motto is "be kind, be kind to one another," but Dana says Ellen was actually the opposite on the day she visited.
"How does the Ellen we see on TV compared to the Ellen you saw when the camera stopped rolling? Totally different um she would only speak to the audience when the cameras were rolling. As soon as they turned the cameras off she would not even acknowledge the audience. She would just sit on the couch basically."
This abrasive pattern of behavior would be on full display in Ellen's final comedy special in 2024, dubbed "For Your Approval."
"Here's the problem. I'm a comedian who got a talk show and I ended the show every day by saying 'kind to one another.' Had I ended my show by saying 'go fuck yourselves,' people would have been pleasantly surprised to find out I'm kind. I didn't go into this business for money. It was about healing my childhood wounds. I thought if I could make people happy then they'll like me and if they like me I'll feel good about myself and all I can say about that is thank God for the money."
From glossing over the toxic workplace experience she created to making snide comments about the complaints from former fans and co-workers, Ellen did everything in her power to be as insufferable as possible, and viewers weren't going to let her get away with it. The comedy special would review extremely poorly and create another wave of hate towards Ellen. At this point, it didn't seem like Ellen cared about people knowing the truth about her. She had already concluded one of the most prolific talk show runs in television history and could now work on any project she wanted, so it made sense if she'd completely discard any pretense of positivity. However, in doing so, Ellen also discarded the essence of the show that made her popular and gave her a legacy, which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was all an act from day one.