Ellen DeGeneres claims she was ‘kicked out of show business’ after being called mean
Ellen DeGeneres has spoken out about her reputation in Hollywood, suggesting she was “kicked out of show business” following allegations that her cheery and kind on-screen persona was a facade.
The 66-year-old, whose TV show The Ellen DeGeneres Show was cancelled abruptly after 19 years on air in 2022 following a BuzzFeed News investigation into an allegedly toxic workplace culture on set, made the comments during her upcoming Netflix stand up special, For Your Approval.
“The ‘Be Kind’ girl wasn’t kind. That was the headline,” DeGeneres says in the trailer for the special, which drops on Netflix on 24 September.
“I thought, if I could make people happy, they’ll like me” – Ellen DeGeneres
“Here’s the problem, I’m a comedian who got a talk show and I ended the show every day by saying, ‘Be kind to one another.’ Had I ended the show by saying, ‘Go fuck yourselves,’ people would have been pleasantly surprised to find out I’m kind.”
Elsewhere in the trailer, DeGeneres says that she went into showbusiness in order to heal the wounds of her childhood.
“I thought, if I could make people happy, they’ll like me. And if they like me, I’ll feel good about myself,” she explains. “And all I can say about that is, thank God for the money.”
DeGeneres’s fall from grace arrived alongside a now-viral interview with the actor Dakota Johnson, during which DeGeneres asked Johnson why she wasn’t invited to the star’s 30th birthday party.
“Actually, no, that’s not the truth, Ellen,” Johnson said, explaining that DeGeneres had, in fact, been invited.
While DeGeneres attempted to style it out, suggesting she didn’t go to the party because it was “too far for me to go”, some believed it demonstrated a slip of the mask, highlighting how DeGeneres’s kind persona was a front.
“I am many things, but I am not mean” – Ellen DeGeneres
This was further compounded after BuzzFeed News reported further allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment on the set and behind the scenes against some people who worked on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
DeGeneres’s Netflix special was filmed as part of her Last Stand… Up Tour, which wrapped in August.
During the show, according to a report by Variety, the comedian denied allegations that she wasn’t kind. “I am many things, but I am not mean,” she said.
She added: “I used to say, ‘I don’t care what people say about me.’ Now I realise I said that during the height of my popularity.”
DeGeneres also confirmed that she was retiring from performing.
“This is the last time you’re going to see me,” she said. “After my Netflix special, I’m done.”
Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval is streaming on Netflix from 24 September.
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