Last month, a Twitter thread with thousands of replies and retweets, seemed to expose Ellen DeGeneres as a fraud, and now her staff is speaking out.
Anyone who knows me knows that Ellen DeGeneres is my idol and my ultimate queen. When this Twitter thread started, my sister immediately sent it to me, telling me to brace myself, because Ellen was being dragged. At first I couldn’t believe it, but some of the Tweets provided video evidence and some were even coming from people who have worked with her (some had verified blue check marks by their handles). In an instant my world came tumbling down and has not been the same since. I can’t even watch new episodes of her show anymore and find myself wanting to unfollow her on social media. I have had a month to process, and things were getting better. Now I hear, she has cut her staffs pay.
Let’s start at the beginning with the Twitter thread. Comedian Kevin T. Porter tweeted that he will donate two dollars to the LA Food Bank for every Tweet that tells a story about how mean Ellen is. The tweet instantly had over 1,000 responses from former employees, servers and others who have interacted with her. Here are a few examples of some of the Tweets.
Imagine my genuine surprise and instant depression when I read all these tweets. It was a real blow to realize she doesn’t do good to feel good, but so she can look good. I mean from watching the show for over 13 years, I have noticed a change in her level of enthusiasm in recent years, but not wanting to do something doesn’t give you the right to be a jerk. I always wonder why it seems as if the same fifty or so guests always seem to cycle through, but maybe they’re the ones she hasn’t been rude to yet. Famous YouTuber, NikkiTutorials was recently on her show after coming out as transgender. While she wouldn’t give specifics she gave interviews expressing how uncomfortable she felt. She even says the experienced reinforced the whole never meet your heroes sentiment.
Out of Touch
Ellen called her comedy special Relatable to let us know she is in on the joke of her extravagant life, however I don’t think she knows how out of touch she actually is. Quarantine has not been a good time for her because it has highlighted that more than ever. People feel her joke comparing quarantine to being in jail was in poor taste, commenting that a million dollar mansion is nothing like a prison cell. I wasn’t really affected by the joke, but I can agree that she says a lot of things that make her sound really stupid sometimes and shows she really can’t relate to her fans.
Pay Dispute
Just when I was starting to feel better about the tweets and convinced myself they could be lies, I was hit with another bomb. While other talk show hosts, like Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver and Samantha Bee have been paying their crews out of pocket, Ellen DeGeneres has cut her team’s pay by 60%. After a full month in quarantine, the show’s 30 person crew still had not received information about their working hours or pay. Two employees anonymously reached out to media outlets to fire back at Warner Brothers’ claims that employees are being treated fairly and with respect. To make matters worse, instead of using her production crew, Ellen has hired a third party non-union crew to produce her show while it takes place in her mansion.
Fans have once again flocked to Twitter and are calling her out for this mistreatment. Everyone can agree that Ellen’s mantra, “be kind to one another,” is nothing short of hypocritical after hearing all this. I find it funny now that a few weeks before this came out, Ellen posted a preemptive damage control video saying how much she loves and misses her staff. I don’t know if I believe that anymore. It always made me wonder if Andy actually enjoys doing all the crazy things she tells him to do, but now I think he’s just afraid of losing his job. I feel that way about Mary and her rash, the other Andy and his short shorts, Kym Douglas the beauty guru, Jeannie’s nice posts, Lauren’s antics and just about everyone else on her staff.
Wrap Up
Anyways, I really don’t know how to feel right now because Ellen has been my hero since I was 11 years old. Up until last month, I watched her show everyday and it was the best part of my day. I was such a fan, I even watched her two sitcoms prior to her talk show, and literally every comedy special she ever did. I know everything about her and post birthday messages to her on her birthday. It’s time now guess to transfer all that Ellen DeGeneres love to Andy Cohen now. As they say, he is the King and Queen of midnight fun!
You can find the full twitter thread here and a deeper article on the pay cuts here.
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