As Ellen DeGeneres tried out a new comedy act Wednesday, she addressed the toxic workplace claims made against her in 2020 — a scandal that effectively damaged her reputation as the genial, “be kind” celebrity.
The 66-year-old comedian, actor and TV personality also addressed whether she would “seek revenge” against those who “wronged” her, according to Rolling Stone.
The people who “wronged” DeGeneres could be the executives in Hollywood who decided her fate, the employees who made the complaints, the entertainment media or anyone in American who joined the online backlash that led to her being labeled as “secretly mean.” Amid the scandal, DeGeneres also decided to give up her eponymous day-time talk show, which went off the air in May 2022, after nearly 20 years.
“What else can I tell you?” DeGeneres mused to the crowd at the Largo at the Coronet in West Hollywood, “mock-reflecting on her recent past,” Rolling Stone said. DeGeneres said with sarcasm: “Oh yeah, I got kicked out of show business. There’s no mean people in show business.”
“I used to say that I didn’t care what other people thought of me and I realized…I said that at the height of my popularity,” DeGeneres also said.
Wednesday’s stand-up routine marked DeGeneres first “meaningful” return to public life, Rolling Stone said. Save for appearing in a 2023 Discovery Channel documentary on gorillas, DeGeneres has mostly laid low since the end of her show. DeGeneres is taking her comedy act on the road along the Pacific Coast, including three nights, June 30 and July 1-2, at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa. She revealed to the crowd of some 200 Wednesday night that the show will be recorded for a Netflix special that be taped in the fall.
But for the start of her show business return, Rolling Stone said DeGeneres spent a fair amount of time Wednesday addressing the toxic workplace allegations, which dominated headlines in the summer of 2020.
That’s when dozens of current and former employees came forward to tell BuzzFeed News that her show’s executive producers engaged in rampant sexual misconduct and harassment. Another BuzzFeed News report detailed former employees’ accounts of racism, fear, and intimidation from top managers.
One former employee in the BuzzFeed News report specifically challenged the way DeGeneres built her brand on projecting the image of being an affable, caring, “be kind” person. The employee echoed rumors that DeGeneres is “secretly mean” behind the scenes to subordinates and to anyone who is not another rich, famous celebrity. The former employee said, “That ‘be kind’ (expletive) only happens when the cameras are on. It’s all for show.” During the scandal, entertainment sites also resurrected comments made by comedian Kathy Griffin in 2016. Griffin said DeGeneres had a “mean streak that all of Hollywood knows about.”
On stage Wednesday, DeGeneres presented herself as thoughtful, humble and self-detracting, though still defiant and “in command” of the sold-out crowd of some 200, according to Rolling Stone. The audience burst “into roaring applause” when she came on stage, so it was clear she was working a friendly crowd.
Throughout the set, the audience appeared to accept her defense that she’s an entertainer who never went to business school to learn how to be a good boss. Back in 2020, DeGeneres apologized to her staff, saying, “As we’ve grown exponentially, I’ve not been able to stay on top of everything and relied on others to do their jobs as they knew I’d want them done. Clearly some didn’t.”
Wednesday night’s crowd also seemed to go along with her contention that the scandal unfairly made her out to be a “one-dimensional” character: “The ‘be kind’ girl wasn’t kind,’” DeGeneres said.
The crowd, moreover, appeared to agree that the comedian’s downfall probably had something to do with sexism, as she reminded clubgoers that she had been “kicked out of show business” once before. That’s when her 1990s sitcom “Ellen” was canceled after she came out as gay. DeGeneres said “wryly,” according to Rolling Stone: “Eventually they’re going to kick me out for a third time because I’m mean, old, and gay.”
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As DeGeneres wound up the set, she received further confirmation that the crowd was rooting for her version of events. She ended the show with an audience Q&A, with a final question coming from a woman who asked, “Do you think you’ll seek revenge for those who have wronged you?”
The question was followed by another loud round of applause and cheers “from every corner of the room,” Rolling Stone said.
DeGeneres replied, “I don’t know who wronged me. I don’t even know who these people are, so I can’t seek revenge, but I really don’t hold onto stuff. It’s just not who I am.”
Citing the self-help book “The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom,” DeGeneres explained that she’s made her peace with the fact that everyone has their own reasons for making certain choices and “they have to live with their stuff,” Rolling Stone reported.
“I do realize that whatever happens may have nothing to do with me, it’s just somebody else’s stuff,” she said. “So no, I will not (seek revenge).”