Ellen DeGeneres Became A Recluse After Being ‘Most Hated Person’ In America
Ellen DeGeneres kicked off the first night of her stand-up comedy tour this week. Cleverly named “Ellen’s Last Stand… Up” tour, the former talk show host admitted to the crowd Wednesday night (April 24) in Los Angeles that since she became a recluse after becoming the “most hated person in America.”
Per People, DeGeneres, 66, joked that she was “kicked out” of show business for being “mean.”
With the swirling headlines tarnishing her “be kind girl persona,” DeGeneres said that the ordeal reduced her to a shell of her former glory. “The hate went on for a long time, and I would try to avoid looking at the news,” she recalled. “The ‘be kind’ girl wasn’t kind. That was the headline.”
(Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Live Nation)
Noting how she used to end her talk show each day by saying, “Be kind to one another,” DeGeneres joked that it became a “problem” because people started to think of her as a “one-dimensional character who gave stuff away and danced up steps.”
As we previously reported, the Ellen DeGeneres Show went off the air in 2022 after 19 seasons on NBC following the toxic workplace scandal that tarnished her reputation as TV’s favorite host. She lost over a million viewers after the scandal became public.
In 2020, DeGeneres was accused by current and former show employees of fostering an environment that tolerated alleged racism, fear, and intimidation. They said they were fired after taking medical leave or bereavement days to attend family funerals. One employee claimed she was fed up with comments about her race and walked off the job. Others said they were instructed by their managers to not speak to DeGeneres if they saw her around the office.
A Black woman who used to work on the show said she experienced racist comments, actions, and “microaggressions” during her time as an employee. She said when she was hired, a senior-level producer told her and another Black employee, “Oh wow, you both have box braids; I hope we don’t get you confused.” At a work party, she said one of the main writers told her, “I’m sorry, I only know the names of the white people who work here,” and other coworkers “awkwardly laughed it off” bearing witness to the joke.
“I think it is a lot of smoke and mirrors when it comes to the show’s brand,” a former employee said, “They pull on people’s heartstrings; they do know that’s going to get likes and what people are going to go for, which is a positive message. But that’s not always reality.”
Ellen DeGeneres Became A Recluse
This prompted WarnerMedia to launch an investigation and DeGeneres insisted in a letter to her staff that she was unaware of any toxicity behind-the-scenes. DeGeneres said at the time, “Unfortunately, I learned that through the press. And at first, I didn’t believe it because I know how happy everybody is here and how every guest talks about, ‘Man, you have a great place here. Of all the talk shows I’ve done, everyone here is so happy.’ That’s all I’ve ever heard.”
She later branded it a “coordinated misogynistic” attack on her and she has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since the talk show’s finale aired on May 26, 2022.
Shortly after her standup routine, DeGeneres held a Q&A session. One fan asked if she continued to “dance” during the tough times, to which she candidly admitted she was unable to practice what she preached on her show for a long time. “No… It’s hard to dance when you’re crying,” she said, noting that she “had a hard time” and “didn’t get out” amid the scandal.
