What happened to Ellen DeGeneres and her career is the stuff of legend.
The journey from beloved comedian to blacklisted gay pariah to television’s most beloved host to total disappointment has been well documented by everyone except Ellen herself.
But that’s all about to change, as fans around the world will finally be able to watch Ellen’s latest stand-up special on Netflix this month.
And no topic is off limits.
What happened to Ellen and her talk show
In 2020, Ellen DeGeneres found herself at the center of a surprising scandal.
After nearly 20 years on the air with her talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the comedian has stepped away from the spotlight for good.
Part of the decision was hers; part was not.
Ellen was accused of creating a hostile work environmentwhere employees were mistreated, overworked and pitted against each other in an extremely competitive environment.
Shortly after the allegations became public, Ellen’s talk show has come to an end after a sequence of 19 years.
She fiercely defended herself and those around her against the accusations, but the global audience that once loved to dance with her every morning seemed equally willing to believe the worst of her.
And then, after Ellen’s show came to an end in May 2022, she found herself out of work — and canceled.
Why Ellen Was Cancelled: The Allegations
The Queen of Nice has seemingly been exposed as The Queen of Mean after several editorials were published about Ellen and her producers’ behind-the-scenes antics.
“This ‘be nice’ crap only happens when the cameras are on. It’s all for show,” a former employee told BuzzFeed News.
The allegations ranged from racial discrimination to unjustified terminations due to sick days to general day-to-day toxicity, including instructions not to speak directly to Ellen.
To be fair, most of the really heinous allegations were made against her production team, as Ellen had very little to do with the entire production team that worked on her show.
In fact, the top producers took responsibility for Ellen almost immediately.
“We are truly heartbroken and sorry to hear that even one person in our production family had a negative experience,” Ed Glavin, Mary Connelly and Andy Lassner said in a statement.
“It’s not who we are, nor who we seek to be, nor the mission Ellen has set for us.”
But at the end of the day, Ellen was the face of the show, and while she couldn’t be held responsible for situations she had no knowledge of, she was criticized for positioning herself outside the loop.
And apparently for being cold and unfriendly to the staff that worked for her.
Ellen DeGeneres Tells Audience She Was ‘Driven Out of Show Business’
The embattled comedian laid low for a while after hosting her final episode. At first, it seemed like she was taking a well-deserved break. Or, at least, waiting to return to the spotlight once the pressure had subsided.
But then she returned to her roots with a new standup tour, and the truth came out.
The tour kicked off with a show in West Hollywood, and as expected, Ellen made some candid comments about the scandal that ended her reality TV career (at least for now).
“What else can I tell you? Oh yeah, I got kicked out of show business,” DeGeneres told the packed crowd during the show.
The joke was captured in the trailer for the Netflix comedy special, set to air on September 24.
She followed Ellen’s confession about the beginning of her career and how she thought it would develop.
“I thought, if I could make people happy, they would like me. And if they liked me, I would feel good about myself… And all I can say about that is, thank God for money!”
Ellen addresses the cancellation of her tour show
“There are no bad people in show business,” she added, with more than a trace of sarcasm.
From there, Ellen mocked the gap between her public image and the way she was described by her former employees.
As you may recall, Ellen used to end her show by asking viewers to “be kind to one another” — words of wisdom that she reportedly failed to follow in her interactions with her staff.
“The ‘be kind’ girl wasn’t kind,” she joked onstage this week.
“I became this one-dimensional character who would give things and dance up steps. Do you know how hard it is to dance up steps?” the comedian continued.
“Would a bad person dance on the steps? If I had ended my show saying, ‘F–k you,’ people would have been pleasantly surprised.”
Ellen apologizes during stand-up special
According to audience members of the show, Ellen later addressed the scandal more seriously, explaining to the audience that she was a boss who “didn’t know how to be a boss” despite being the face of the show.
“I didn’t go to business school. I went to Charlie’s Chuckle Hutt,” she joked.
“The show was called Ellen and everyone wore T-shirts that said ‘Ellen’ and there were buildings on the Warner Brothers lot that said ‘Ellen’ but I don’t know if that meant I was supposed to be in charge.”
Is this the apology some of Ellen’s former employees were hoping for? Maybe.
But only time — and the criticism of her stand-up — will tell whether she can be welcomed back into Hollywood with open arms.
