Few falls from grace have been as pronounced and widely-covered as that of Ellen DeGeneres, the talk show host who brought a revolution in American daytime television, The first five minutes of Ellen’s final stand-up special on Netflix play out the highlights of her career—from coming out on national television in the early aughts with those three dreaded words (“I am gay”) to having a mega-successful show where celebrities played pictionary, ‘Never Have I Ever’, and ‘Heads Up!’,
But when “be kind to one another” lady is accused of having a hostile work environment on the sets of her talk show host, one can’t help but notice the mismatch between what Ellen preaches and practices. The montage in the beginning of the special is moving, more so for this critic who is a 2000s baby and watched The Ellen Show on YouTube back in its Golden days. Also for that reason, the montage stings a lot. Why did Ellen not do her bit to mitigate the hostile workplace environment on her set?
More so—will she take accountability for her actions and her (presumably) unintentional oversight? Also, why is she talking about window wipers? Well, that’s Ellen’s brand of humour—talking about smoothies, glitter, cars and deriving comedy out of the mundane. Ellen’s special shines the most when she is being honest and addresses (sometimes indirectly) why she was “kicked out of show business”.
Yes, there is vulnerability at display here. At one point, the comedian admits that she didn’t care what people thought about her at the height of her popularity (because the general consensus was in her favour). She admits, in a moment of honesty, that she does care what people think—as do all of us no matter how much we deny it.
Ellen then proceeds to talk about the toxic workplace allegations which led to her cancellation in 2020 except she doesn’t delve deep into the details like how officials on the show didn’t allow employees to talk to Ellen or that their bereavement leaves were canceled. Instead, she makes her office sound like a ‘fun environment’ where she plays tricks with Andy, her executive producer.
Not only does Ellen glosses over these allegations without addressing them in detail, she also has that air of nonchalance about it. Instead, she talks about how she is struggling with OCD, ADD and that her mother has dementia. She also brings up how she was kicked out of the show business because she came out as a gay woman. This critic feels compelled to state that none of these experiences in Ellen’s lives can invalidate the trauma her employees went through.
Towards the end of the special, Ellen (who once this critic looked up to) loses the plot entirely. She says “I am tough, and I am impatient, I am demanding and I am direct…I am a strong woman”, implying that her employees, many of whom were women, couldn’t handle the girlboss that she is. Four years of self reflectiona and Ellen couldn’t figure out that maybe, just maybe, her employees not liking her has less to do with her being a woman and more to do with how she treats them?
So while I am happy Ellen doesn’t care anymore, I choose to remember Ellen as someone who is mean and also as someone who cannot take accountability for her actions. Ellen DeGeneres’s new stand-up special reeks of hypocrisy. Not only does the once-celebrated queer icon avoid accountability, but actively continues to play the victim and deflect blame on her staff, by implying that she is a ‘strong woman’, one who denied her employees bereavement leave. Now that Ellen is out of the public eye, all I can say is—good riddance!
Star rating: 1 / 5 stars
Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval is now streaming on Netflix.
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