Since Hollywood’s entire production is shut down, TV hosts are filming stunts from the comfort of their mansions, creating monetized content in order to keep the quarantined masses entertained.
Thread On Twitter Goes Viral After Ellen Degeneres’ Former Employees And Fans Call Her ‘Mean’
We can’t help but wonder if this is a requirement of their contracts or if it’s simply something that celebs want to do to stay in the spotlight. Either way, our favorite talk show host, Ellen Degeneres, was caught up in a Twitter mess not long ago. Users were definitely unafraid to bring some evidence from her show to prove how badly she treated some celebrities and seemingly almost made them cry.
We All Need To Laugh A Little
Another comedian, Kevin T. Porter, took to Twitter to ask the public about any run-ins they’ve had with Ellen. It was clear that he was asking for negative stories seeing as he said, “Right now we all need a little kindness.”
We All Need To Laugh A Little
“You know, like Ellen Degeneres always talks about! She’s also notoriously one of the meanest people alive…Respond to this with the most insane stories you’ve heard about Ellen being mean & I’ll match every one w/ $2 to [the Los Angeles Food Bank]”.
Feeding The Poor
During these times of social distancing and self-quarantine, people online immediately jumped on the action. In the span of just 2 days, Kevin, the man who began the thread, updated the crowd on how many responses he’s counted towards the $2 food bank donation goal.
Feeding The Poor
He said, “Well this got out of hand! It’s now hard to tell which stories are real or not, so I’ve rounded up to 300 and donated $600!” That is a whole lot of stories, wouldn’t you say?
Set Tour
For those who aren’t aware of the concept, most of what you see on television is filmed in the same location. This location happens to be a massive ‘lot’ with rows and rows of huge warehouses that are filled with fake rooms and soundstages. All of them make up the sets that look like real places when they’re shot in from the right angle.
Set Tour
Yes, you read that correctly. Television shows aren’t actually real. On top of that, it’s a very, very small world. You’d be surprised at how many shows really film in the same exact locations.
Being A Good Neighbor
At any given time, tens, and sometimes even hundreds of shows, movies, and commercials are all being shot “on the lot” at any given moment. Meaning that thousands of people are working together in the same place.
Being A Good Neighbor
Of course, these thousands of people will most likely run into each other at some point or another. The way that turns out seems to depend on the mood of the day and the disposition of the wife according to this person.
Essential Function
Within those thousands of people who work in the entertainment industry day in and day out, the most important thing to keep the well-oiled machine going is often someone who many don’t speak of – the intern. Aka, the hero of the coffee cart and sandwich orders.
Essential Function
Since no one else cared enough about making sure the sandwich details were correct in the order, the Hollywood star threw a fit. Her sandwich clearly didn’t follow her vegan paleo ketosis inspired diet which led her to shut down a multi-billion dollar blockbuster shoot.
Notorious
So far, we’ve seen some humor is the responses to Kevin T. Porter’s request for ‘meanest Ellen’ encounters. However, we have to ask whether all this points to Ellen being “notoriously one of the meanest people alive” as Porter stated.
Notorious
Well, there are some responders who took it upon themselves to uphold large portions of the conversation. Benjamin, for instance, wrote a list of complaints starting from the letter A and finishing with the letter F. He started with this story about chewing gum.
Just The Beginning
The story about the chewing gum was only the start for this man on Twitter. He seemingly knows a whole lot of dodgy things about the TV star known as Ellen Degeneres. And he was not shy to talk about it.
Just The Beginning
Brace yourself. Things are about to remind you a lot of the movie “Mean Girls”. This is a warning that a new staff member received. When their day to be hated by Ellen comes around, they just need to suck it up and soon she would move on to someone else.
The Jester
Our dear friend, Benjamin, continued with the conversation with yet another gem about the Hollywood star. He said that the higher-ups pulling the strings behind The Ellen Show would encourage staff members to try and cheer her up by doing comedy acts in her office.
The Jester
We kind of feel a little sad and misled if this was really what was happening behind the scenes of the show. Honestly, how weird is that? What kind of boss would put her employees through that? Cheer up, Ellen!
Animal Advocate
It’s a known fact that Ellen is a huge lover of animals. In the next tweet he wrote, Benjamin spoke about the apparent extreme nature of Ellen’s animal advocacy. He spoke about how much her attention to the welfare of animals overrides her consideration of the comedy in anything.
Animal Advocate
We aren’t sure how this really makes her a mean person. However, it is possible to also care about puppies all the while caring for people as well. We don’t know if that was the case for Ellen, but that’s what people claim.
Her Words
Just like any other TV show, writing is an essential component of The Ellen Show. Sometimes, it can become an irreplaceable part of the star’s projected personality. So, it only makes sense for the star to have a say in, well, what they’re saying.
Her Words
Well, according to Benjamin, the writers of The Ellen Show didn’t have the easiest time working on set. In fact, he said that whenever Ellen wouldn’t like a monologue a writer wrote, she would refuse to say it.
TV Magic
While we can’t be certain all these stories are true, for the sake of continuity, we’re going to share the final tweet Benjamin sent out that day. We can’t help but think that he purposely saved the best for last.
TV Magic
Naturally, there are all kinds of secrets going on behind the camera on sets of TV shows and movies, all those tricks tend to happen for the sake of entertainment. We like to call them the moments you “pay no attention to the man behind the curtains”. Just a disclaimer: no rabbits were harmed in the making of this tweet.
White Wedding
When same-gender marriage became illegal in the state of California, Ellen made use of her platform to color a brief she wrote to the supreme court. She started with “Portia and I have been married for 4 years and they have been the happiest of my life.”
White Wedding
“And in those 4 years, I don’t think we hurt anyone else’s marriage. I asked all of my neighbors and they say they’re fine…”. However, this next tweet is about a completely different kind of letter that Ellen wrote to the authorities.
Self-Plug
You have to admit that a viral Twitter thread centered around the disgracing of a mainstream comedian is the perfect place to plug your own stand-up act, improv troupe, or comedy sketch show. Naturally, anyone would take advantage of such a thing – it only makes sense.
Self Plug
We have to give Chris credit for her shameless opportunism. When it comes to love, war, and showbiz, all is fair. When you can, get the exposure you need. After all, it will help you get ahead in your career.
Hello
Another Twitter user, Josh, came forward and got involved. He said he had a list to share that was long enough to give the previous record holder a run for their money. This one is tough to read if we’re being honest. We really hope it’s not true.
Hello
There are plenty of people who get joy out of interacting with all kinds of people and finding the little things in life that make them happy. If it’s harmless and won’t take up much of your time, why would you take that away from someone?
Onto The Next One
The same Josh we just mentioned said that a friend of his had a rather unpleasant experience. This alleged friend supposedly worked backstage of The Ellen Show for a time and now has plenty of stories to share with the world. Not good stories.
Onto The Next One
We can’t actually know if these stories are true, but we’re going to keep going for the sake of seeing things through. Supposedly, Russell Brand was in this story, but again, we can’t know for a fact if this is true.
Say What?
Another tweet by Josh says that during season four of Arrested Development, something happened. It turns out that on the set there was a lot going on. In fact, the staff had to deal with Portia De Rossi’s absence (Ellen’s wife). She played a lead character named Lindsey Bluth on the show.
Say What
This friend of Josh’s friend said that the reason behind Portia’s absence was the fact that her wife, “Ellen wouldn’t let her go to work most days”. We have to admit that it sounds fishy when a person tries controlling their significant other.
More Developments
Of course, the Twitter algorithm was able to shuffle quite a few stories about Portia into the now-viral thread. These stories spoke about Portia’s supposed entrapment situation in her marriage to Ellen. Well, this decade-old gem just came up.
More Developments
It turns out that someone overheard that “everybody knows Portia wants to leave, but when she tries, Ellen just buys her another pony.” Yikes. We have a feeling that Portia is someone who’s capable of buying her own ponies.
Misdirection
The story wasn’t over yet, oh no. Twitter user Jordan James Smith decided to jump in with a personal story he was actually a part of. This was a direct experience he had with Ellen. In his story, he acknowledged the fact that he joked directly with Ellen and even made eye contact with her.
Misdirection
However, Jordan’s tweet might have awakened all the Beyonce fans out there, taking the attention off the matter at hand: Ellen. His tweet replies were a lot more focused on Queen Bey than Ellen, and we can understand why.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
If you watch The Ellen Show, you’re probably familiar with Ellen’s on-screen personality. Even if you don’t and you’re just reading this article, you probably understand how much Ellen cares about animals by this point.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Well, it’s unclear if this sort of behavior is considered to be problematic or not. In particular, we’re talking about her attitude. If people care so passionately about a specific cause or idea, we shouldn’t allow other problems to become impacted by negativity, wouldn’t you say?
If You Were Wondering
That just might be the case with this tweet thread and its replies. The author then went on to share an article she wrote in response to what she calls Ellen “insensitivity towards an entire indigenous people.”
If You Were Wondering
The same person continued by saying, “Important context: One of the wealthiest and most important stars in the world [versus] the poorest and hungriest indigenous ppl in North America for eating a plentiful animal that’s literally one of the only things to eat where we live.”
Strike Two
Earlier in this article, we’ve mentioned the importance of writers on a show. Naturally, we’re pretty biased, but still. We’re being honest. Just think about your favorite movie and then about a reality show airing right now. Do you notice the difference in the quality of the stories? Well, take note that even that reality show has writers.
Strike Two
That just goes to show just how important writers are for TV shows. This is why the next tweet we’re going to talk about has us feeling slightly uncomfortable. If it were true, just think about what that means for our job security.
5 Years
Looking back on that last tweet we spoke about, you might have noticed the beginning of a pattern. Both tweets had the same timeline – five years. Perhaps Ellen’s employees’ shelf-life expire at the five-year mark.
5 Years
As we all know, this is Hollywood. Weirder things happen there every single day. Oh wait, all production was shut down pretty much everywhere over the last few months. No one’s filming anything anywhere anymore, as of now. For a moment we almost forgot.
Classic Segment
That last one was hard to stomach, no doubt about it. So, we’re going to steer back to Ellen’s famous love of animals. We also felt the need to give a shout out to the classic 12 Days of Giveaways segment on the show.
Classic Segment
In 2011, a family happened to be gifted all twelve days in a row. We can’t help but wonder how many of these prizes were actually second-hand puppies and kittens. This Twitter user said Ellen has a habit of adopting cute animals, but only for short periods of time.
Woman Of The Year
In 2009, PETA awarded Ellen the title of Woman of the Year. The reason they gave her this award was thanks to her work for pro-animal rights legislation. When she was hosting the Academy Awards in 2014, she was sure that every person who didn’t win got her swag bag.
Woman Of The Year
It contained a 10,000 meal voucher to be donated to the animal shelter of their choice. It’s clear that she’s looking out the most for those who matter to her. All the same, it seems a little strange for her to be so passionate about animals and so hostile towards her staff.
Well…
Back in 2017, Jimmy Kimmel’s son ended up in the Children’s Hospital to go through open-heart surgery. Well, Ellen became involved and raised money for the hospital in question. It was a serious amount – one million dollars.
Well…
After this, she had Jimmy Kimmel on The Ellen Show to surprise him. One of the hospital rooms was named after his son. We wonder whether this storyline makes an appearance in the show this tweet mentions.
Personal Assistance
Here we have another little sneak peek behind the curtain of the show. On most shows, the star has a personal assistant who’s there to get them just about anything they want or need. Well, in this case, there was something very specific that Ellen needed.
Personal Assistance
If you don’t happen to know, the rider is the list provided to the venue staff instructing which items have to be present and available for the red carpet moment when the talent arrives. Oftentimes, riders include the parameters that these items must meet.
To Be Fair
This next Twitter user came to Ellen’s aid even though they aren’t such a fan of the reality star. They claimed that this scenario isn’t uncommon in Hollywood. On the contrary, it was a rather common occurrence to ensure the staff read the riders.
To Be Fair
She said, “I don’t like her but to be fair, a great many riders are like that. The “out there” things asked for is to make sure that it’s read by venue staff. It’s not uncommon in the least. Since this is Ellen though, she probably did it to be sadistic and laughed about it later.”
One For The Books
Continuing from the last tweet, this tweet talks about the way stories about celebrity riders have shifted throughout the years. With time, these stories get told in new and different ways, which makes sense.
One For The Books
“This isn’t like the classic “green M&Ms” test though… there’d be no way to tell if they were the right type or brand of cauliflower puffs, especially since they were never inspected.” It looks to us like this story was very intentional rather than the classic test.
Puppies For Life
Well, this Twitter thread was a real ‘free for all’. People were definitely not holding back their stories or opinions on the matter. So, it was pretty inevitable for it to all come down to this point after a while.
Puppies For Life
We’re back to talking about animals. More specifically, rescue puppies. This user says, “Not sure if anybody’s mentioned this but she adopted a dog on a typical rescue contract (must be returned if not kept), then gave it away to her housekeeper, then when the rescue busted her, she badmouthed the rescue and got her fans to harass them. She sucks, I hate her.”
T-Shirt Cannon
It goes without saying that this whole concept can be seen as petty. However, looking at the big picture, every dollar for the Los Angeles Food Bank in a win in our eyes. All the same, there is a certain way to go about it.
T Shirt Cannon
Do you think Ellen would agree with us? What do you think about all this? This Twitter user said, “I’m surprised no one is talking about that time she humiliated a fan cause she took an extra shirt or something from the merch store. Did you really have to publicly humiliate her on live tv with millions watching??? Over severally overpriced merch?”
Say It Ain’t So
Everyone gets inspired by different things. At any given moment, we all have the potential to be swept up into that sudden gust of inspiration that leads to creating something amazing. We gotta say, that inspired feeling is incredible.
Say It Ain’t So
Well, it looks like watching The Ellen Show was a source of inspiration for one artist. “My cousin @gaylenerva created these amazing sequin portraits of Ellen & Oprah, & mailed them to the US from Singapore (expensive). Ellen brought 1 out *as a show bit*, didn’t even acknowledge the artist – in fact, TOOK CREDIT for making it!”
Bad Hair Day
If we wanted to categorize all these tweet topics into a spreadsheet and actually measure out the entire campaign, we’d see that the hairstyling category would run for columns upon columns. There would be no end in sight.
Bad Hair Day
One tweet said that “she is notoriously a nightmare in the hair world. my friend did ellen’s hair at our salon and apparently ellen rushed it all- acting psychotic. then devoted an episode of her show to how much she hated her hair. she bashed the color and said my friend looked like Ronald McDonald.”
For A Good Cause
Here we’re going to highlight the point of all this, which is the very first tweet that started it all. Porter, the one who began the viral thread, made a promise that each tweet the thread got in response to his would result in a donation to the LA Food Banks.
For A Good Cause
“One of our members delivered her a pizza and she made him dance from his car to her door, then she had someone jump out and scare the heck out of him, then she gave him a $0 tip. (Thanks for donating to the food bank. A good cause!)”
Hope
If you aren’t aware, Ellen has a long history of being at the forefront of LGBTQ representation. By the time she gave advice to the Teen Choice Awards audience in 2015, she was decades deep in the action.
Hope
In her speech, she said: “I want to say also it feels good to be chosen, but there was a time in my life that I was not chosen… So you should be proud of being different, you should be proud of who you are… because being unique is very, very important.”
The Nerve Some People Have
If you’re someone who likes pleasing everyone, then you won’t be making anyone laugh anytime soon. Well, that’s how the saying goes, at least – you can’t please everyone. Either way, no comedian will be funny to everyone. It depends on each person’s individual humor.
The Nerve Some People Have
That just might be this Twitter user’s experience. They tweeted in defense of Ellen – and for the sake of all humankind. Perhaps they were trying to make light of things going on, but we have a feeling it didn’t work all that well.
Defending Her
We definitely have no idea what it’s like to have thousands of strangers hate on us online. We can only guess that it’s a very unpleasant experience. All the same, many have come to Ellen’s defense, including this man, who points out her many charitable donations, saying: “For every terrible story about her, there are 10x more good ones… she’s extremely philanthropic on a national level.”
Defending Her
“On a local level, she lives in Santa Barbara and is super friendly. You could mention the good that she does, which is far more than the $300 you raised.” Still, it seems like Ellen has shown her true colors on her shows as well. Even some celebrities were on the receiving end of this behavior.
Biting Back
Other than all the examples of Ellen treating the staff of her show terribly, some of her more questionable behaviors have been caught during interviews on air. However, not all celebrities take Ellen’s supposed “jokes” lightly. In fact, some celebrities, like Dakota Johnson, for instance, aren’t scared to bite back in front of the audience as well as millions of viewers.
Biting Back
When she was on the show in 2019, Ellen tries making a joke in Dakota’s expense during the awkward interview, saying she wasn’t invited to her 30th birthday party. Unamused, Dakota proved how she did invite the host – only Ellen didn’t show up.
Intrusive Questions
Ellen sort of has a gift for banter which she puts to good use on the show. However, you can tell at times when her famous guests become very uncomfortable with her intrusive “jokes”. For example, Taylor Swift has been a good sport in general while dealing with Ellen’s shenanigans.
Intrusive Questions
In this interview from 2013, however, she became visibly upset when Ellen spent the whole interview teasing her and trying to get her to admit that she and Zac Efron had dated. Taylor was sure to stand her ground and deny it, but in the end, she became so upset that her voice shook. Yikes.
Unforgivable
Of all the cringe-worthy Ellen interviews, this one takes the cake. In 2008, Mariah Carey was a guest on The Ellen Show. This interview was a whole lot more than just awkward – it was downright inappropriate.
Unforgivable
Ellen seemed to be on a mission to get Mariah to admit the pregnancy rumors about her were true. Instead of respecting the fact that she wasn’t prepared to speak about such a private topic, Ellen pretty much forced the answers out of her. She tried to get her to drink champagne. It was beyond clear that Mariah was uncomfortable. Making matters worse, she miscarried a few weeks later.
Investigating
Yes, you read that right. After all these allegations against Ellen came up by people who either worked or appeared on the show, it looks like Ellen’s show is now under internal investigation. It was launched in order to figure out what is really going on.
Investigating
The show’s executive producers have spoken out about the situation, saying that they feel incredibly heartbroken to hear all these stories. They said it had all happened without their knowing about it. Naturally, we don’t know if anything will come of this, but it seems like WarnerMedia is taking matters seriously.
Serious Allegations
In addition to the claims that Ellen is a rude person to work with, or simply weird, several more serious allegations have come up to the surface. This all happened after the wave of tweets about Ellen went viral.
Serious Allegations
One black employee from The Ellen Show has claimed that the staff who worked there would be racist towards her on a regular basis. Not to mention, she said they would perform microaggressions that made her both uncomfortable and have a hard time doing her job. She added that there was a culture on the show which allowed these things to keep happening.
Discrimination
It seems like the everyday discrimination had extended into the bureaucratic side of things too. The same black employee who spoke up about racism in the workplace also said she was likely denied a raise as a result.
Discrimination
She was even more qualified and experienced than a white coworker doing the same job. Well, the white coworker made twice the amount she did while doing the same thing. When she asked for a raise, the Ellen team brushed it off and nothing ended up happening.
Taking Responsibility
Ever since these claimed appeared online, more and more questions have come up about whose responsibility it was to make sure the staff’s environment was comfortable. Some people claim that it’s Ellen’s job since she’s the one the show is named after. However, others say it’s up to the executive producers.
Taking Responsibility
The executive producers have, in fact, started taking responsibility, saying that “the day to day responsibility of the Ellen show is completely on” them. It’s encouraging that they are at least striving for accountability.
Damage Control
Clearly, the people who work on the show – including Ellen – were distressed when all these stories started coming out. Whether they were a part of the problem or not, it’s probably a bad feeling knowing that people were having a hard time on your show.
Damage Control
All the same, the staff of the show apparently took it the wrong way and instead decided to try and control the damage being done rather than addressing the actual problems and changing the culture of the show. One former employee has said that a Zoom meeting was held to deal with the low morale, but other than that nothing’s changed.
Crumbling Down
Unfortunately, it looks like the general image of Ellen’s show is falling apart. Whether all the allegations are true or not is still unclear, but it’s starting to be difficult to deny the fact that so many different people have claimed that working on the show was a terrible experience.
Crumbling Down
One employee went on to say that there “is a lot of smoke and mirrors when it comes to the show’s brand” and that things aren’t really as they seem from the outside looking in. We just hope that things will get better over time for everyone.
Working From Home
While she’s been quarantined, Ellen has kept on producing original content from the comfort of her $27 million California home. Well, in the first episode she filmed from home, Ellen said, “Being in quarantine is like being in jail. It’s mostly because I’ve been wearing the same clothes for ten days and everyone here is gay.”
Working From Home
People online responded very negatively to that clip. Given the extravagant circumstances Ellen and all the other A-list celebrities are enjoying during quarantine, online users had a lot to say about her complaining. On top of that, people were quick to point out that people who are actually in prison right now are at a high risk of contracting the virus.
Responses
Online users weren’t laughing at Ellen’s quips. Quite the opposite, they responded harshly. “She totally gets what it’s like to be locked up on Riker’s for a parole violation and die from COVID-19 now after being cooped up in a $40M mansion for three weeks,” one tweet said sarcastically.
Responses
Before her at-home episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”, Ellen also posted multiple videos on her social media pages saying how she was “bored” and calling up her celebrity friends to kill the time.
Swirling Rumors
As rumors began swirling about the talk show host, more and more celebrities confirmed that she was indeed difficult to work with. Brad Garrett from “Everybody Loves Raymond”called out Ellen on Twitter after all the allegations began surfacing.
Swirling Rumors
“Sorry but it comes from the top,” Brad wrote. “Know more than one who were treated horribly by her. Common knowledge.” That wasn’t the end of the story, however. “Back to the Future” actress Lea Thompson responded to an article about Brad’s tweet by saying: “True story. It is.”
Resident DJ
There were more people weighing in on the matter. The former resident DJ of the Ellen Show had confirmed that he felt ‘toxicity’ on set. DJ Tony Okungbowa worked on The Ellen Show from 2003 to 2006, then again from 2007 to 2013. Once news broke out about the toxic workplace allegations, he posted his response to Instagram about the way he experienced the “toxicity” on set.
Resident DJ
“While I am grateful for the opportunity it afforded me, I did experience and feel the toxicity of the environment and I stand with my former colleagues in their quest to create a healthier and more inclusive workplace as the show moves forward,” he wrote.
Warning
It turns out that there was a whole lot more going on behind the scenes than people realized. In fact, a guest who appeared on Ellen’s show has claimed that people were warned not to be funnier than Ellen. After flying from Chicago to L.A., Dana Dimatteo was on the show in 2018 and her experience turned out differently than she expected. Dana was selected to participate in the “Make It Rain” segment.
Warning
The segment has contestants drenched in water while trying to win a cash prize. In the recording, Ellen and Dana smile at each other while the cameras are rolling. Once the cameras stop shooting, however, Dana said, “During commercial breaks, Ellen would break out of her ‘kind’ character and sit moodily in silence on her couch, not acknowledging anyone”.
Not A Word
“She didn’t say one word to the audience unless the cameras were on – she snapped out of her character the second the cameras stopped rolling.” According to Dana, the producers told the audience that if they were selected to participate, they “were not allowed to be funnier or smarter than Ellen” since “she is the star and the comedian – not us”.
Not A Word
Dana said that she “didn’t enjoy” her experience. She’s just another person to criticize the talk show. As we’ve said, the series is now undergoing an internal investigation over allegations of sexual misconduct on the show’s set, as well as workplace bullying.
Sofia Vergara
Ellen’s attitude doesn’t seem to be exclusive for the staff on the show. In fact, there were celebrity guests that she seemed to treat worse than others. Sofia Vergara has become a regular guest on the show throughout the years. Her first appearance was in 2010. As we all know, Sofia’s native language is Spanish, and while her English is fluent, she still has a Colombian accent. Thanks to this fact, Ellen had Sofia perform a public prank that involved her heavy accent.
Sofia Vergara
Well, that wasn’t the first time Ellen used Sofia’s accent for the purpose of comedy. In another episode of the Ellen Show, Ellen jokingly “taught” Sofia English words. This is despite the fact that the actress is fluent in English. In other clips, Ellen would continue to make fun of the way Sofia pronounced specific words and even mimic the pronunciations to her face.
Forming Pattern
These incidents might have been spread out over a matter of years, but they show a pattern all the same. After all these revelations about Ellen being less than kind off-camera, Sofia’s fans looked back at these interviews with a new perspective. They began voicing their concerns about the way Ellen made jokes about Sofia’s accent.
Forming Pattern
Sofia does have a sense of humor when it comes to her accent. However, when you put all the pieces together, the clips of Ellen and Sofia seem to show Ellen laughing at Sofia about her accent, not with her. Fans were quick to point out: “If anybody said those things in real-life settings, nobody would be laughing.”
Cringeworthy
Fans continued and said that the way Ellen joked about Sofia’s accent wasn’t funny. It was more “cringeworthy” than anything else. A lot of people saw these clips as a white American making jokes at the expense of a Latina woman’s accent.
Cringeworthy
The joke itself might not be all that funny, but it’s also a privileged and tone-deaf joke. Not to mention, a mean-spirited one at that. It’s pretty much the antithesis of Ellen’s “kind” brand. Sofia doesn’t owe anyone fluent English in the first place – she’s fluent in her native tongue.
Disturbing Experience
Tweets from fans kept coming in, bringing up more and more things that have happened on The Ellen Show or experiences employees had on set. One person tweeted: “I know this tweet is old, but I stumbled upon this thread and finally have an appropriate place to share a disturbing experience the team on Ellen had given a member of my community.”
Disturbing Experience
“I have been holding this in and want SOMEONE to know about this”. It seems that not only is Ellen going against everything she speaks about, but her entire staff is too. This person simply wanted to enjoy an episode of the show in person. However, they were made to sit all the way in the back all because of looks. It’s sad.
Getting Fired
It seems that once stories broke, things began snowballing. Ten people who used to work for The Ellen Show, and one current employee, have anonymously spoken to a news source. They spoke about incidents that included getting fired for attending two family funerals, and producers joking that two black employees looked similar and would cause confusion.
Getting Fired
One former employee spoke about how she was told by a show writer that they “only know the names of the white people who work here,” while another one said they were ordered to take down a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for medical costs that weren’t covered by the show’s health insurance. They said it reflected poorly on “Ellen’s brand”.
Forceful Habits
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Ellen is the kind of person to force her opinions and views on others, especially those who worked for her. Well, it’s been said that even studios next door to hers would suffer the pain of her wrath when things wouldn’t go her way.
Forceful Habits
In fact, her crew had to bring lunches that were pre-approved by the show’s host. No one would be allowed to eat fish, meat, or anything like that. That didn’t seem to stop her crew from having their dietary needs met, however. They would go and hide in other stages on the lot to eat what they actually wanted to.
Not Your Employee
Ellen wasn’t picky with her bad treatment towards others. She even felt entitled to treat other people’s employees the same way she treats her own. This person was working for Ellen’s wife, Portia, when Ellen decided to make a special request.
Not Your Employee
Well, he went through with the request. In fact, he went the extra mile – literally – and made sure to get Ellen the specific sandwich she had requested. After all the effort he put in to get that sandwich, Ellen didn’t want it. Harsh.
Painting
Another person decided to chime in with another story, further confirming the fact that Ellen isn’t all she seems to be on TV. Their former art teacher was hired by Ellen to paint her a painting. Well, he went through with it but got an unpleasant surprise when he presented it to her.
Painting
Apparently, Ellen was not pleased with the way the painting turned out and was sure to express those feelings in a very blunt and hurtful way. As if that weren’t enough, she also refused to pay the full amount she agreed on earlier.
Petty Behavior
It seems like there is now a never-ending amount of stories about the talk show host to back up all these claims about her. As more and more stories come out, we can’t help but wonder how none of this came out sooner.
Petty Behavior
All the same, everyone knows the famous saying, “what goes around, comes around”. This person tweeted about their own experience working for Ellen on her show. It seems that no matter what you did as an employee there, things would never be quite right for the celebrity.
Crushed Dreams
Now that we’ve learned about Ellen the way we have, we know this was a rookie mistake to make when on the first day of your job at The Ellen Show. Little did this person know that telling Ellen how admired she is would result in such a negative reaction.
Crushed Dreams
Well, this person was all too excited to start her first day on set when things took an unpleasant turn. We can almost see the person’s disappointed expression once Ellen left her without a word. Not only is that rude, it’s embarrassing as well.
‘Real’ People
While Ellen does give a lot to charity – or rather, the show’s producers do – there is still a catch to whatever she does. It turns out that even those ‘internet sensations’ who appear on her show after going viral online have to earn it.
‘Real’ People
After they succeed in whatever it is they do, they apparently are under contract and have to pay the show a percentage of their earnings! You’d think she wanted to have these people on the show so they could do well for themselves, not for her!
No Eye Contact
This is less surprising now that we’ve learned all this about Ellen. All the same, it’s uncomfortable to read and hear about it. It seems that the fact that Ellen is less-than-pleasant to work for is a known fact in the business.
No Eye Contact
This person spoke about how their coworker knew full well that people shouldn’t work for Ellen. It’s been said that she has signs up in her office that say not to look the host in the eye. Rather forward, wouldn’t you say?
Ping Pong
We’re now finding that there is no shortage of stories about the talk show host now that things are out in the open. This woman spoke about her daughter’s story in relation to the celebrity. As her make a wish, she wanted to meet Ellen.
Ping Pong
Well, Ellen clearly didn’t want to meet her. In fact, aside from refusing to acknowledge the girl, the mother-daughter duo had to hide behind a wall for fifteen minutes when they arrived at the show while Ellen was busy playing ping pong.
Disappointment
We can imagine that many former fans feel this way now. Once seen as a saint-like celebrity, Ellen’s entire image seems to be crashing down around her as we look on. While we don’t know what will happen to her or the show as a result, we do know how her fans feel now: crushed and disappointed.
Disappointment
One example is this man who admitted his hurt on Twitter by saying, “Here I was going through my life thinking Ellen is great and there are some nasty rumors I won’t pay attention to. But now I know.”