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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPeople Are Finally Starting to See the Real Ellen DeGeneres and It Isn't Pretty
Replacing her own crew with non-union workers during the pandemic underscores how the talk show hosts cheery TV persona is miles away from who she is behind closed doors.https://www.thedailybeast.com/people-are-finally-starting-to-see-the-real-ellen-degeneres-and-it-isnt-pretty
As Americas pre-eminent lesbian daytime talk-show host, Ellen DeGeneres has attained a somewhat unlikely arena of ubiquity in mainstream entertainment culture. But in the past year, there is evidence emerging that the tinge of mean-spiritedness that comes through in DeGeneres interviews and segments on The Ellen DeGeneres Show are consistent with a rumored behind-the-scenes demeanor. And now its not just a give-zero-fucks Dakota Johnson who is coming through with tales of the daytime media queenits the workers. DeGeneres comedy and sitcom career famously came to a halt when, in 1997, she used an episode of her show, Ellen, to come out. Even Laura Dern, who played her love interest in the episode, reportedly couldnt get a job for years afterward. Of course, both women have since seen comebacks that have catapulted them to stardom and riches, but Ellen has more recently received a kind of countercultural check.
Outside of her daytime audience and the celebrities she cavorts with, it appears that a good number of regular peopleincluding several of the people who have worked for her and served her in other waysreportedly find her to be reliably cruel. There have been rumor mills in the comedy and TV worlds about DeGeneres meanness for years. Late last month, a Twitter thread by comedian and podcast host Kevin T. Porter brought many out with first-, second-, and thirdhand stories about DeGeneres various transgressions, from refusing to make eye contact with interns to getting a waitress fired for having a chipped nail, and more. Almost none of these stories have been shared or confirmed by anyone still in the industry, but in 2014, former Ellen head writer Karen Kilgariff did share with Marc Maron that she was fired from the show after refusing to cross the picket line during the 2008 writers strike. DeGeneres has allegedly not spoken to Kilgariff since.
Earlier this year, DeGeneres came under fire for more public-facing actions. After photos came out of her laughing it up at a Dallas Cowboys game with former U.S. President George W. Bush, fans and critics expressed anger that the host would get chummy with the head cheerleader of the Iraq War (and a vehement opponent to gay marriage). DeGeneres dismissed the criticism by saying that liberals and conservatives should be able to reach across the aisle to be friends.
But more recently, its become clear that DeGeneres doesnt quite extend that self-styled grace toward those who cannot escape by virtue of being the head of it: the incarcerated. Performing a monologue from her multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home during the California coronavirus lockdown, DeGeneres cracked that being self-isolated is like being in jail. Its mostly because Ive been wearing the same clothes for 10 days and everyone here is gay. Once again, viewers were incensed, and pointed out the obvious incongruity of the joke: As DeGeneres lounges in her enormous home, filming the show she earns $70 million a year to host, prisoners are being packed like sardines without any protective equipment as the virus spreads from guards to them, and even suffering beatings from some of those guards for daring to seek medical treatment.
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jimfields33
(19,382 posts)Everyone forgets they are human who screws up from time to time. I also dont think its healthy for humans to look to others for their moral compass.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,856 posts)I'm sure that there are a few who probably are great people on and off the set (Tom Hanks, probably? I've never heard anything bad about him) but TBH I just try to enjoy the content people put out and less on idolizing the actual people/creators.
jimfields33
(19,382 posts)Jamastiene
(38,198 posts)I have had a few eye opening encounters with celebs. They are people, just like we are. Sometimes, their personas do not match who they are or who they become later. I'd rather enjoy the art they make for us, because that is the real beauty and the real thing to concentrate on, not the flawed person who creates it.
Ferrets are Cool
(22,166 posts)
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)This collection of petty gossip and innuendo is downright ugly.
Btw, how many people have said they feel like they're in jail or prison lately? What happens if one of us does here? No excuse for those red in tooth and claw who look for excuses to attack.
Iggo
(48,814 posts)Hope I dont get cancelled.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Doughnuts for all.
Maru Kitteh
(30,147 posts)Now I want doughnuts.
And I don't know how to make them, at least not very well.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Totally Tunsie
(10,890 posts)You're welcome!
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)more baking as part of home schooling -- science experiments. My daughter doesn't care for comments from me on that. She was one of the traumatized parents with things not coming together on the school side for a while also, but cupcakes and so on have been helping them all.
Totally Tunsie
(10,890 posts)
(Finally have an opportunity to use this emoji!)
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)through a blue period.
Happy to join you.
Hekate
(97,536 posts)...we did measuring-spoon and measuring-cup fractions. I talked to him about how yeast is alive.
Wistfully,
Hekate
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Remembering kissing fuzzy little heads just this morning.
BusyBeingBest
(8,962 posts)express outrage at every joke a comedian makes because he or she is personally wealthy, then I guess Dave Chappelle, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Jim Gaffigan, etc. all better hang it up too. This whole "you're too wealthy to be relatable anymore so your career is over" seems to be reserved just for her, though. I'm not an Ellen fan, but this article is double-standard-ish. I also don't really care if she's kind of a jerk sometimes personally. I assume most famous people are, and try to enjoy their work anyway.
Bernardo de La Paz
(55,375 posts)Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)live love laugh
(15,273 posts)is and its COMEDY. This hit piece feels like a reach. Betting Ellen hangs in thereshes weathered choppy seas before.
stopbush
(24,691 posts)I just have never liked Ellen. Shes not funny and her little girl schtick is annoying.
Iggo
(48,814 posts)
(Im just messing with you...lol.)
liberalmuse
(18,876 posts)She isn't a nice person. It's really disappointing.
stopdiggin
(13,662 posts)in the slightest one way or another. But if that is the case .. the "beast piece" did a remarkably poor job of making that case. And the faux outrage over the prison routine ...? (and wherever that originates?) Okay .. this is why a lot of us don't really give a sh**.
--- ---
jcgoldie
(12,046 posts)... and "refusing to make eye contact with interns" is the best they could do providing examples of her terrible cruelty? Geez.
GusBob
(7,899 posts)followed right after that example?
roamer65
(37,588 posts)I have heard of these rumors for years and she has a very plastic, fake persona on TV.
Marrah_Goodman
(1,586 posts)GoneOffShore
(17,796 posts)Raine
(30,785 posts)WOW that's downright cruel, how horrible!
GoneOffShore
(17,796 posts)Or Michelle Pfeffeir never having her name on her trailer door, but the name of the character in her previous movie.
These people get a little crazy.
mbusby
(825 posts)...I seldom make eye contact with anyone (except occasionally for my wife, who doesn't care).
Raine
(30,785 posts)to make eye contact with people.
LakeArenal
(29,941 posts)I never heard Colbert referred to as a heterosexual talk show host.
My dad was a racist koolade drinker. He Loved babies and dogs. He was very much abused as a child.
I loved him very much and miss him.
I compartmentalized my feelings.
Im sure Ellen is a complex person with many faults and many sweet qualities.
Jamastiene
(38,198 posts)There is no need to even bring that into the conversation. I have many criticisms about her, but being a lesbian, which I am too, even though I identify myself as a gay woman because I hate the way homophobes lesbian, isn't even important to the conversation. It is her actions that disgust me at times.
hadEnuf
(3,174 posts)Hints at being a RW hit piece in disguise.
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)"top rated daytime TV host" would suffice
Iggo
(48,814 posts)
Goodheart
(5,760 posts)That's the worst they've got? SERIOUSLY? One of the most visible persons in the world for many years and all they can produce are rumors? Or that an employee was fired?
Sorry, but they didn't make their intended point with me. All I see is character assassination.
MineralMan
(148,998 posts)From the get-go with the "lesbian" identification. Very odd, I think. And that wasn't the only derogatory reference in the article. I'm bemused, rather than amused by this.
Hmm...might the author dislike Ellen for some reason?
GoneOffShore
(17,796 posts)Non-union workers on a SAG/AFTRA show. IATSE is not well pleased. And having IATSE upset is almost as bad as upsetting Teamsters.
MineralMan
(148,998 posts)I still think it was a hit piece.
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)GoneOffShore
(17,796 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,768 posts)Lately there has been a shit load of stories about her being a mean, downright nasty person to people, not just her guests. Horrible to flight attendants, to guests, to restaurant workers, etc. Her apparent LOVE of scaring people, the bullshit she pulls that show her propensity for domination. This will not end well for her.
This story will snowball.
She won't have a show inside 6 months, I am convinced.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)Shes worth $330 million.
GoneOffShore
(17,796 posts)Just goes to show that having that much money doesn't make you a better person.
Which she seems to be proving.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)is that she doesnt have to worry about her show being cancelled, per Heretic I Ams post.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,768 posts)Last edited Thu Apr 23, 2020, 11:50 PM - Edit history (1)
Maybe not. If she has been smart about her money, then sure, she can fade away and live very comfortably.
But there have been plenty of people that precede her who once their income stream dried up, their finances went to shit.
I just think she will lose her show because public opinion on her will shift, and she will be seen as toxic to advertisers, that's all.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)that she might lose her show, but I also believe shell be ok financially.
RedSpartan
(1,766 posts)I'm NOT NOT NOT comparing the situations, but it's like Cosby or Weinstein in that it's an open secret.
Nothing in the article is surprising.
JustAnotherGen
(34,878 posts)Not at their level - but still . . . an open secret.
Ditto Don Henley and his song 'Dirty Laundry'. He was even too dirty for Don Johnson - and Johnson is no choir boy himself.
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)Don Henley was talking about Don Johnson in Dirty Laundry?
JustAnotherGen
(34,878 posts)World for years. And we have some hooks in hour home to that world. That's why I don't watch her show or put her up on a pedestal.
Not an 'hit job' -as much of an open secret as Harvey Weinstein.
redstateblues
(10,565 posts)beyond the pale
JustAnotherGen
(34,878 posts)She's a nasty piece of work and she isn't the lover of animals she pretends to be.
Jimminy h Christmas - I have as much tolerance for her as I do Oprah - who has palled around with Geffen (who pals around with Bryan Singer and all of the other rapey guys in Hollywood). Both have looked the other way on a LOT of nasty shit.
Not beyond the pale - just not 'star struck' by less than stellar people.
Goodheart
(5,760 posts)kcr
(15,522 posts)As I'm guessing Ellen would say.
Jamastiene
(38,198 posts)she's fair game for criticism. I was beyond disgusted by that. She isn't making me not like her much at all. That is for sure. Then again, I have always had a gut reaction to her that I could not quite put my finger on.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)I liked her back in the day, but I think shes WAY too full of herself.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Wednesdays
(20,494 posts)Are we going to bash her as well?
ibegurpard
(17,051 posts)I've noticed a paticular youtuber who has videos slamming Ellen that keeps showing up in my suggestions lately. Someone's making a point about trying to trash her and that's what's not pretty. Reminds me of the abusive boss Amy Kobluchar stories.
I'm sure she can be terrible at times just like everyone else who we don't see concerted efforts to trash.
MenloParque
(536 posts)Never found her entertaining or funny at all. And that stupid dance she always used to do.
GoneOffShore
(17,796 posts)Goes back to A Massive Swelling by Cintra Wilson, where she examines 'Celebrity Culture'.
We've always had it, but it really has gotten worse since the 1950's.
Much, much worse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Massive_Swelling
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)in that she sells a persona, otherwise known as acting. Ive never seen her talk show, but apparently her catchphrase is be kind.
ashredux
(2,724 posts)Celerity
(49,754 posts)
Karma13612
(4,775 posts)Unfairly treated after coming out during a show, I have sometimes had misgivings about her generosity on her show.
As with Oprah, she gives away tons of money thru lavish gifting episodes around the holidays.
I know this is probably network-based and I KNOW it isnt her money personally.
But, it irks me that she even agrees to do this as part of her show.
Why cant she ask that the money be given to Food banks or other non-profits so it benefits a larger group than just some lucky people who get selected to be in her audience.
Always rubs me the wrong way.
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)It was a ploy for her then-primetime show to boost ratings. And it failed miserably.
jcgoldie
(12,046 posts)Saying anyone coming out on their sexual orientation is a joke because everyone knew they were "gay to begin with" is just offensive and borderline homophobic.
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)Ellen never talked about it but she also never hid it. Like many others. They are gay but make no "announcement" about it. It wasnt a revelation to anyone who knew who she was or followed her career. So maybe the announcement wasnt a "joke", but the timing was.
Mosby
(18,448 posts)Marrah_Goodman
(1,586 posts)Celerity
(49,754 posts)crickets
(26,158 posts)The rest of it - ehn, I dunno, but not hiring her own crew? Not hiring union? That's not right.
msongs
(71,198 posts)
KWR65
(1,098 posts)Tommy_Carcetti
(43,889 posts)Maybe she's a really mean person.
Maybe she's really nice.
I've never met her so I can't personally say one way or another. Guess I'll just have to accept the mystery.
But more importantly, why the hell is whether Ellen is a nice person or not in any way, shape, or form important or newsworthy?
I don't get it.