The Real Ellen - The Bitter Truth Behind The Daytime Icon | TRO

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themes to cover in my upcoming content however every now and then there is a disturbance in the matrix the tro computer malfunctions and a topic is chosen because i feel like it yes i know shocking as it may be i do possess the ability to experience feelings today this emotional intuition has led me to one of the most iconic talk show hosts of all time and perhaps the not so unfamiliar fate that befell them this abysmal year you see as i've subtly alluded to just now youtubers have personas myself included although these personas will seldom completely mirror the individual behind them we tend to develop a more personal connection with them than we do with most celebrities because of the many personal elements that have been integrated youtube intimacy has always been a specific selling point and where we may separate the art and the artist in various branches of entertainment with content creators the relationship seems a little more inextricable however probably one of the most similar genres to that of youtube is the american talk show host i will shut down twitch i will shut down youtube gaming i have that power for years we have perceived them as an invasive species on the platform and to be honest i can't say i'm particularly enthusiastic about their presence however their involvement makes a lot of sense especially given how they brand themselves hell the overlap is so obvious now we even have a youtuber who became a talk show host that's a video for another time for those who are familiar with this brand of tv personality you'll know that in spite of these scripted sequences and the big name guests there's a lot of weight in the actual host and the qualities they hold whether it's the suave suited sidonic bite of trevor noah the reasoned incision of stephen colbert or the james corden each holds their own appeal however if you can lay claim to the degree of market dominance that one woman has commanded that woman being oprah winfrey this calls for a drum roll cue the drum roll all right open your boxes open your boxes twice get baited punks though completely true of course the oprah winfrey show has been off air for just shy of a decade now however it was over 20 years ago in 1997 when an individual by the name of ellen degeneres appeared on oprah's show to speak openly about her sexuality for the first time why did you think it was necessary for you to come out you know you've read some of the mail people say so if you're gonna why not just let that be your business why was it necessary for you to come out tell the public why was it necessary for the character to do so because it's okay at that point ellen was a star of the popular sitcom ellen fitting name jones coming out was integrated into the plot line of that show as well with the revelation occurring in a scene where oprah played ellen's therapist the episode that contained the sequence became one of the most viewed in the show's history attracting an audience of 42 million however in spite of this reception was mixed from within the industry and political spectrum alike with some advertisers pulling slots and pressure from family rights concern groups how delightful although ellen was renewed for a fifth season disney owned abc ram parental advisory warnings before each episode which alongside other factors was attributed as engineering the show's decline in ratings and eventual cancellation stimulating debate over lgbt discrimination within the field what about this was adult content depicting characters who are gay on television in physical acts i believe is adult content but how is that more adult content than heterosexual couples rolling around in bed which they do again we're making a judgment about what our society is comfortable with and what they might not be comfortable with aren't we then just enabling a prejudice in the audience we're not telling people necessarily not to watch it ellen's tv career encountered a bit of a rough patch over the following years with another attempt as a sitcom the ellen show failing to find success however come 2003 the winds of change were finally blowing in the direction of our comedienne firstly with the release of the animated film finding nemo where she played a memorable character by the name of dory a fish with short-term memory loss the distinctive voice performance won ellen both praise and awards fortifying her status as an innovative and versatile entertainer however the best was yet to come because in september the first transmission of a little program known as the ellen degeneres show was broadcast it's uh it's september 8th this is our very very first show and you are my very first audience the ellen degeneres show commonly shortened to ellen is a daytime talk series hosted by none other than our well-acquainted friend ellen degeneres its philosophy is often portrayed as one of positivity accented by a light-hearted tone with audience and celebrity guest involvement in a variety of games pranks jokes and giveaways since its inception just over 17 years ago ellen's show has steadily ascended the daytime tv ratings hierarchy often only being bested by the man dr phil himself the show has received 61 daytime emmy awards spawn spin-off series such as ellen games of games and garnered the reputation as a space where one can turn themselves off from all the stress in the world an asset that becomes ever more valuable in times like these nonetheless it wouldn't be possible to convey that message if the host didn't encompass those same values and in ellen many found someone who is a beacon in that darkness a doctrine of kindness represented by a person who would face hardships to be where they are today but have come through and wanted to share that spirit with you i don't think you have to have a talk show to uh to be nice to people to to do what i'm doing um i just think that kindness is something that we should all have that's an innate quality that we have and we need to we need more of that out there be kind to one another a simple but powerful precept and one that to many ellen appeared to live by herself however in a time where many felt the kindness was more imperative than ever some began to claim that it had in fact deserted her while others well asserted it was never even there in the first place what followed was a media-propelled deluge of allegations that threatened to alter the perception of a beloved tb icon and everything that people thought she stood for conversely many jumped to her defense stating that these character attacks were unwarranted the critics had imposed unfair standards and the ellen was still the person that she had always claimed to be was this a person under attack or a persona under the microscope well there's only one way of attempting to find out ladies gentlemen folks i suggest we begin to unravel this curious curious case [Music] you see what seems recent actually goes back a bit further than you may think so to fully understand what we're dealing with today we're gonna dust off the tro time machine give it a spin and gather some intel to grasp what laid the foundations for the coming charades i've been studying kindness for the past 17 years on this show and i thought i could help with some research that that you know like i don't know these are things that i've learned so uh consider me your professor this is like kindness 101 so pay attention this is on the midterm the ellen degeneres show has in a way established ellen as an icon unlike anything else she has created this is not to diminish her contributions to her career prior we should acknowledge that these things are cumulative but when people think of ellen they think of this all right what i want everyone in this room to do is just think kind thoughts let's witness the power of kindness let's just think kind thoughts everybody in a way that is incredible and the fact that so many people have that innate association is a testament to her skills as a performer yet at the same time given the marketing and framing of the program a lot of viewers and even guests will receive the impression the ellen degeneres show is fundamentally what happens when you just take ellen and stick her in front of the cameras for 40 minutes in a way this is part of the charm at the same time this is an unrealistic interpretation now does this mean that ellen isn't a kind or even good person not necessarily ellen preaches those virtues on and off the air but at the same time it's clear that some had a mental image of ellen which didn't match their subsequent experience particularly when the cameras weren't rolling for gossip magazines when someone expressed this sentiment publicly it was indicative of the quote real ellen and had been the predominant point against her for a fair few years in a way i think that was the result of the fact that certain skeptics found ellen schtick too good to be true and with the online world when someone appears so wholesome and perfect some people feel disposed to depose them there were insider leaks and celebrities who had negative experiences with her such as kathy griffin and corinne olympios with the form describing her as having quite a mean streak and the latter referring to her on a podcast is very cold would you say that's a great representation of yourself um that is a real me it is definitely a real side of me um but there are many other sides now it's important to note that these were mostly fringe rumors at this point feuds and unfavorable interactions are not unexpected in the industry some outlets jumped on them because as scoops they are pretty interesting and challenge the universal outlook but most people didn't pay them much regard however the fact that minor comments received this publicity was a sign that many were ready to have their expectations subverted hell a 2017 youtube video from cavos on this matter has amassed over 10 million views most of which came long before 2020. go sit in that ellen jail over there right now i mean look how pissed ellen is look at her face i have never seen her act like this ever it's [ __ ] weird and all over a hat and yes people are laughing even ellen's you know cracking a few laughs but this lady has been shamed in front of 13 million people on youtube a live audience and millions watching at home and for what keep in mind that kavos is a creator who primarily focuses on youtube drama and although his upload received mixed feedback on release the traffic was indicative of the potential that such narratives harbored that video focused a rather peculiar clip in which ellen roasts an audience member for taking more than one item from her merch stand against displayed instructions some of these more contentious clips have resurfaced over the years attracting little slivers of public attention these excerpts may have appeared well intended in concept but could translate into practice as mean-spirited or blinkered with that said the video itself isn't anything extreme and kavos pre-faces his critique with the acknowledgement that he actually likes ellen this is how many felt about her at the time and it seemed that a lot of the criticism would amount to individual experiences of ellen which didn't turn out as anticipated this is the perspective that ellen's wife portia de rossi echoed on an interview for ellen's 2018 netflix stand-up special relatable stating that she's just a bit more complicated than she appears on the show there's more range of emotion in the same article a friend and director tignataro affirms this stating that being trapped in the world of being asked to dance and expect it to be nice it's real and adding i'm sure there's people who think she's kidding or can't have a bad day but she does it's an interesting pickle she's in ellen has bad days and unfortunately some people are gonna see that from time to time especially people who have had limited experience with her could such a point of view hold back public approval perhaps if each claim was treated as an outlier rather than a pattern for a while this was the case mostly given the sparse and separate nature of previous negative testimonies and the existence of conflicting positive ones it was particularly difficult to gather a consensus as to what ellen's workplace was really like the most openly critical testimony was provided by an individual by the name of surgical strikes or dan tobin which was posted in 2007 during the writers guild of america strike after ellen questionably crossed the picket line to record her show tobin shared anecdotes from when he worked for her on the mostly unsuccessful sitcom the ellen show which depict her as antagonistic and even derogatory towards her team he remarks how she openly expressed the desire to sack the head writer for the lack of quality content while noting how he would later go on to create the legendary arrested developments this pose received ample amounts of media attention but mostly phased when nobody else came forward to corroborate the claims ellen would go on to indirectly respond to this account and other headlines spurred by anonymous testimonies in the 2018 interview where she dismissed them as quote unquote an outright lie emphasizing the workplace happiness is one of her utmost priorities with that in mind what reason did we have to doubt her commitment well at the time the interview not much i'm gonna say some of the other contents for later but as it stood one thing that was constantly harped on was the fact that ellen was human in a way i think many people knew that yet even if we did the ellen degeneres show had almost elevated the image of its host in a way that was asking for it to be knocked down however the only way this was going to happen is if a consistent stream of people who had background with degeneres were to come forward and for the longest time that just didn't look like it was going to happen yet here we are today which probably means one thing it did [Laughter] for the most part ellen's 2019 went off without a hitch but as the new decade beckoned she found herself in a bit of hot water after appearance at a baseball game with former u.s president george w bush where they seem to be sharing some exquisite banter some online didn't welcome this interaction given bush's rather notorious legacy which included the now highly contested invasion of iraq ellen responded to this by appealing to her philosophy of kindness stating that this principle doesn't just extend to people who agree with her this was meant with support from many celebrities in her comment section and also inspired a monologue on a subsequent episode but just because i don't agree with someone on everything doesn't mean that i'm not going to be friends with them when i say be kind to one another i don't mean only the people that think the same way that you do i mean be kind to everyone doesn't matter earlier in the year she had received some mild criticism after hosting the comedian kevin hart he had stood down from hosting the oscars following the resurfacing of some older rather inappropriate homophobic content now personally if he's grown from that situation then i don't think it should be held against him and i do genuinely think that it's sad that he had to relinquish such a fantastic opportunity at the same time ellen's narrative that the upset or outrage was merely a case of malicious internet trolls may strike some as a little offbeat there are so many haters out there whatever's going on in the internet don't pay attention to them that's that's that's a small group of people being very very loud we are a huge group of people who love you and want to see you host the oscars you know the trolls are and they they do it and who knows who this person is or people who cares and and you can't let them destroy you and they can't destroy you because you have too much talent no one can do that and for them to stop you from your dream from what you wanted to do and what you have a right to do what you should be doing it's why they haven't found another host now this may not seem like the most relevant incident to today's discourse and anyone familiar with ellen will know that her friendship with bush and heart pre-existed these situations however it was an important reminder of the degree that our tv host goodwill incorporated whether it was too far for some people was unimportant it wouldn't be ellen if it was anything else as you know what come 2020 we could all use a little bit of kindness towards one another with the bleak socio-political landscape draining the very fiber of our being it was never a better time for ellen's teachings to shine through however rather than being the saving grace in a year full of letdowns she became a key subject of the public's own disillusion let's move to march then and if you recall i mentioned that to garner publicity claims would need to be organized in a way that outlines a pattern of behavior rather than just individual experiences it was hard to see exactly how that would happen but gold was struck when comedian kevin t porter decided to raise some money for charity through the rather unorthodox method of donating for every story shared about ellen's cruelty the tweet announcing this quickly received hundreds and eventually thousands of replies covering ellen's alleged shenanigans these ranged from former fans whose opinion of ellen had been spoiled following encounters with the tv personality to eyewitness account of ellen transforming into a dragon though unfortunately there isn't any evidence to support that one however there were a few select claims that stood out and became rather popular on their own terms one of which regarding ellen's former head writer karen kilgorth the tweet here asserted that during the 2007 writer strike kilgore had refused to cross the picket line and was subsequently dismissed from her role with ellen never speaking to her again kilgroove had actually made a statement expressing empathy for degeneres at the time for crossing the picket line so this would be a pretty damning story if true and this is at least somewhat supported by kilgriff's own retelling of the instance you're in a position now where the show has decided to cross the picket line and you said no well i didn't say anything i had to go on strike so it was just we kind of all said goodbye like oh this sucks this is so weird see you later and you know when i was talking to like my eps were like we'll call you and it was all that kind of stuff and i don't think anybody was prepared for the kind of political action that was about to take place like i know no one knew what was going on what happened well the the writers guild found out that they were the our show was gonna cross the picket line they went [ __ ] berserk they were just like they they wanted to like they made sure that i was always at the center of the like at the strike gate it was really crazy we just kind of became the eye of the storm in this weird way of like the show that's doing the worst thing because there were there were others you weren't working no we were striking we showed up every day like that was the crazy part is our show was mad at us because the guild was mad at them what happened after that with your relationship with her oh yeah it was bad so we got her to stay out the first day so karen anderson and i both were talking to her and we were just like you please trust us this is way worse than you think it is right um and so she stayed out the first day she told them i'm not going to cross the picket line and then that's when they swarmed her i mean i don't know affiliates no no the no no no the production company right right the people that ran the show are sure her people right like all the big wigs went in and we're just like uh no you're doing the show so she wasn't comfortable with it but they basically convinced her like this is what you have to do and then that's kind of when the whole like we are union zealots yeah a story started getting floated and the next time after that that i who are your writers yeah like all of us striking we had no [ __ ] choice she was definitely guilty of like there's all these people that have jobs you can't you can't stop their paycheck right you know they put her in that weird position the i think the the part that fell apart the worst was just that interpersonal connection of like nobody needed to be demonized nobody needed to be like she's the one that's doing all this stuff at one point there was a story in the national enquirer that i was in about how ellen had crossed the picket line there was like a picture of me on the strike line in the national enquirer it was the weirdest thing and i never talked to anybody from the national enquirer that's not a thing you do when you work on a show you sign papers confidentiality right and there was no story to tell we were on strike it was just it was what it was and they the people the eps and stuff found out and they thought i went to the press so it was things like that was like you've known me for five years and you think you think i would go to the [ __ ] national choir to talk about this ridiculous situation it was like it was all that kind of stuff by the time it was over everyone was so estranged and everyone was so angry and those people had to work for four months on a talk show with no writers like they must have been stressed out of their minds i mean it wasn't good i honestly felt like at that time it was almost like an act of god it was like i've been here for five years i've given my all this really weird thing has happened that would never happen in a million years it's just like the strange thing i'm out like this is my chance to go and that's and i just kind of wash my hands of it because it was just too it was really painful now does this excuse ellen's actions not at all it's a situation where she could have afforded to think for herself and she didn't buy the sound of it the fact that someone sees contact with another individual altogether on the basis of a very difficult decision does make me wonder where her priorities lie but it's not an indictment of character that we would need however we have plenty more stories to examine some of these characterize her as excruciatingly petty complaining over trivialities and going as far to encourage the redundancy of those who had caused her inconveniences others depict her as cold distant and even cruel with statements from multiple people claiming to be or at least no employees on the show but the common theme being that many were discouraged from even conversing with her with ellen abiding by this principle pretty strictly as well the stories just kept piling up many of which not the most positive not that you'd expect it in a thread constructed on the premise of sharing your worth ellen experiences additionally the fact that exposing bad stories aced the support of a good cause may lead some to present circumstances a more negative light than they actually occurred nonetheless a good portion of these stories were hard to write off some came with receipts and others came from seemingly credible sources however they were all united by one thing that the ellen degeneres trademarked kindness was not as all-inclusive as proclaimed in fact to many it appeared to be a source of personal profit a facade that was dropped as soon as there was nothing at stake however as most of these tales hinged on third party or anecdotal evidence very little could prospectively come from it a bunch of people gossiping on twitter isn't really enough to topple and establish tv personality alone nonetheless social media can be an excellent gauge of how much meat is on the bone for a ravenous news outlet and i'm sure many became excited the possibility of a headline which revealed the undermining of personally promoted values by an otherwise revered public figure even if she didn't notice this ellen's producers should have recognized the warding signs and trod carefully on the eggshells before them with the incoming threat of covert 19 the standards and conduct of all involved would be put to the test more than ever this was a time where kindness and care to those around you was desperately needed perhaps even to an unprecedented degree in the ellen degeneres's show's lifespan and if they put a single foot wrong they could easily be subject to some very sharp scrutiny which could permanently damage the image of a show that they love so much and their precious precious host the truth is that if ellen couldn't afford the currency of kindness to those around her then it wasn't a price that anyone else was prepared to pay jesus where the hell am i [Music] [Music] at the end of the previous part i emphasized the significance of this viral threat it had already spawned a few articles and sent a lot of previously unsuspecting eyes onto one daytime sweetheart as he pandemic loomed and we were all advised to stay the hell away from each other there were a lot of question marks over the entertainment industry and what this meant for shows like ellen which relied on the personal interaction with a live audience as well as all the employees whose jobs may be on the line at the same time this concern went beyond the industry it was likely felt by many people who watched ellen and looked to her for guidance it was an emotional time for many and ellen needed to be sensitive to that how would she deal with this age of uncertainty i've always wanted to uh to have this show as a as a distraction as a break from whatever is going on out there that may be unpleasant so if you're feeling down i want to lift you up if you're feeling trapped i want to set you free if you feel like you're going in the wrong direction i want you to back that thing up a reassuring clip from home the quintessential ellen what could possibly go wrong one thing that i've learned from being in quarantine is that people uh this this is like being in jail is what it is it's uh mostly because i've been wearing the same clothes for 10 days and everyone in here is gay the jokes that i have well it seems the writers have gone on strike again because that joke kind of sucks and it didn't go down particularly well with viewers either with many tweeting out their dismay at various aspects of the joke now there are many angles you can gird it from however i think once again it just makes ellen seem a bit out of touch with the state of the world the analogy doesn't really make much sense on concept and it's short coming to only intensified by the focus on ellen's woes which don't draw the most personal sympathy you know what movie wouldn't have worked during a quarantine home alone you're killing it today now with that said it's a bad joke it happens at a time like this it seems excessive to be angry who knows the stress that ellen or her staff may be under that cloud of their judgement on the delivery of such a gag she would have to do a little worse than that to come under fire wouldn't she well a week later it was reported that many crew members of the ellen degeneres show were frustrated at their treatment following the state of crisis as lead by two anonymous sources they'd been given little to no communication and show no concern by the show's executives further to this many were frustrated that the show had hired an outside non-union tech company to record her home broadcast when employees did finally receive a response from producers over two weeks later they were informed that their pay would be reduced by 60 percent to an amount that would be hardly sufficient for many workers much of the workforce probably felt their future was up in the air and the alleged ambiguous messaging from leadership likely didn't assuage these anxieties to wait for such difficult news can hardly be fair and many were quick to point this out provided this is true can this be directly attributed to ellen not entirely she can't be expected to keep in touch with everyone who is working for i think the main majority of people can understand that however the problem that once more rears its ugly head is that contradiction the people who've given their all to keep a show running deserve to be kept in the loop above anyone else and whether that's ellen's direct responsibility or not people don't want to see her as being in a system that is antithetical to what she advocates for with this story a new narrative began to emerge one that didn't just accuse elena of hypoxia on the basis of her principles but of a greater double standard when dealing with fellow celebrities ellen made the most heartfelt appeals to the qualities of sympathy and decency after all they are human like the rest of us however these standards appeared to be neglected when dealing with anyone outside the celebrity clique some felt this way following the george w bush controversy there had always been this separate class of elite above the consequences of their own actions and that ellen had since joined them the contrast of a multi-millionaire in their mansion grumbling about lockdown while many employees livelihoods were in jeopardy was not a flattering portrait and only served to highlight the us and them contrast um i want to start doing my uh new show as soon as possible because um it's really for people who are stuck at home and especially my staff and crew i love them i miss them and the best thing i can do to support them is to keep the show on the air so here we are however this still wasn't the whole story as clips began to surface which even threw the idea of ellen's preferential treatment of celebrities into contention these could be quotes from people reflecting on their experience such as nikki's tutorials who decide to address the show's hospitality on a dutch talk show [Music] um it seems there's even a hierarchy within the industry and despite being applauded on air her treatment elsewhere seemed less than stellar but that's just an account what about direct clips well there were those as well it's good to see you happy birthday when was your birthday it was october 4th october 4th this is dakota johnson she is an actress model and friend of ellen at the start of the interview degeneres decides to jokingly take a jab at the fact that johnson hand invited our gracious host to a birthday party however there was a small hitch with that actually no that's not the truth ellen you were invited last year no last time i was on the show last year you gave me a bunch about not inviting you but i didn't even know you wanted to be invited but i did invite you and you didn't come so this time you invited me yeah are you sure yeah how do you know i don't think so ask everybody ask jonathan your producer who's okay i was invited why didn't i go i don't know was it was it oh yeah i had that thing in fact at the time of dakota's due ellen was occupied at a little baseball match with former president george w bush now this exchange appeared to be in good humor however these circumstances surrounding it prompted many to return to it especially relevance to how disconnected ellen is portrayed to be other clips were even more incriminating such as a now rather infamous scene with mariah carey where to ascertain whether she's pregnant with a child ellen decides to offer the singer an alcoholic beverage something that anyone expecting a child would wish to avoid i'll also add for further context that carey suffered a miscarriage following this interview which really does not age it well at all and then the other thing is that people are saying that uh that you're pregnant there's rumors don't discuss that um all right well you don't have to that's okay no honestly let's just toast with champagne and decide some champagne it's just fattening no let's toast to you not being pregnant if you're not pregnant [Applause] who knows what they hold who knows all right go ahead okay cheers cheers it's too early for me i only drink it after 3 p.m [Applause] as a concept for a low brow gag it may have been mildly amusing and at first i actually thought it was far too personal to not be staged however kerry would later go on to say that the interrogation made her rather uncomfortable and when you take this into account it's hard to look upon ellen favorably even if this wasn't her idea she should have recognized and respected the discretion of her guest and not fallen found to such tabloid treachery i have my own dog actually she's pregnant two i have two dogs both her master well let me take some of the vodka next to me why don't you answer ellen did that to me and tried to put me on the spot all right with some alcohol okay alcohol i'm trying to put you on the spot it's nice if you are okay as these clips began to be collated outside the other documented claims some began to search for an explanation for such conduct was she out of touch or out of care well with more allegations to come let's talk about it with the gradually mounting agglomeration of content there was little doubt that something here was not quite right however at the same time there was a divergence in the theories that many adopted when attempting to assess ellen's actions on one hand some believe that much of this illustrated a celebrity who had simply forgotten what it was like to live in the real world and thus have become insensitive to the needs of many of those she claimed to care about to be honest many of the rich and famous likely suffer from a lack of relatability however their careers don't rely on connecting to an audience in the same way that ellen's does are you fans of the show correct yeah and you watch the show regularly all right great one of those who subscribed to this school of thought was a form of juicer from the ellen degeneres show speaking anonymously in an article published in the new york post they recounted the time ellen couldn't read a text after losing her glasses and decided the reasonable response would be to phone steve jobs up and inform him that the iphone should have a bigger font they say that's ellen and she's not some demon just a person who's been living in a privileged bubble for way too long this doesn't seem like an absurd point of view and would perhaps explain some of these supposed rather petty behaviors as claimed by others in focusing on her role as a host ella may have been isolated from many that she works with either by her own decision or through corporate design something that i'll probably talk about in due course some who had worked with ellen previously stating they had an overall positive experience such as the former head writer karen kilgriff appeared to have their relationship cut short pretty abruptly when a conflict of interest arose in karen's interest she was clearly hesitant to characterize ellen as the source of this falling out especially with the attested corporate meddling however others would not be as charitable and have a more damning verdict on our celebrity chum where some may stop short of characterizing our leading lady as malicious others would venture with far less trepidation particularly with some of the more incriminating testimonies and clips on display and then you had a very tough time you couldn't get a job what was that like not only couldn't get a job couldn't get someone to on a phone i mean they're literally you know the show was canceled and no one called me it was just i found out my assistant read it in the paper um and you know i felt sorry for myself i felt like this isn't fair i thought people liked me and why did this change anything and i still am the same person and you know every everything felt horrible to me ellen is a tv veteran and someone who has had more than ample experience with the worst of the industry however although that makes her ascension of the hierarchy highly respectable it also makes the selective application and even outright neglect of certain responsibilities harder to defend with some personalities you can use ignorance as a way to explain certain blunders even if you personally believe they have a duty to be aware of the consequences their actions have it may make sense they lose sight of this with ellen simply put it seemed much harder to believe with many coming to the conclusion that she must have been aware of these injustices but had made the conscious decision to not care some would go further than this though to say that she may even take pleasure in the subjugation of those around her partaking in excessively cruel and sadistic behavior this falls in line with many of the more unforgiving stories regarding her conduct and is not to be discounted either another person who would come out to support this in the amount following was a bodyguard who escorted ellen at the 2014 academy awards he stated that although his experience with ellen's wife porsche was rather positive this went downhill quickly when he met ellen who barely even made eye contact with him and radiated this aura of rigidity that bothered the chaperone in question he summarizes his thoughts by saying that it's kind of demeaning in the way that she treats people other than those who are in her circle now both of these aforementioned positions have their advocates and cases which seem to argue against even people who claim that a lot of what was being said was completely fabricated however this criticism was not relenting with many more people jumping in to discuss their brushes with the embattled icon yet in spite of this all remain mostly quiet on ellen's social medias addressing drama is normally not a positive process whether it's the right thing to do or not so she kept pushing on but insider reports kept spilling that these allegations had affected her and it was hard to deny that she must be somewhat aware of what was being said now generally the rule for a lot of public figures is to avoid punching down onto claims that may not necessarily have the substantiation to merit a response however with leaks and rumors reaching fever pitch it felt like the program was a breaking point roam rings were being constantly released to the press who promoted it to the awaiting public in a vicious cycle that was gradually eroding away at the show and its host stature at the start of july the word began to spread that the ellen degeneres show may be cancelled altogether because of the imputations and although the production company behind ellen dismissed this as speculation unsurprisingly so with what happened in the coming weeks they may have wished they had because on thursday the 16th of july a damning dossier was published which called out the toxic workplace environment behind the award-winning production it outlined unfair dismissals discrimination favoritism and neglect of responsibilities typically expected of a show with such moral grounding yes one current and 10 former employees painted the workplace culture as one ruled by fear with most of the blame being placed at the door of the producers who were distance degeneres and validated an environment that marginalized vulnerable individuals who needed support above anything else in some ways a lot of what was detailed wasn't any more incriminating than previous testimonies published and this was much less focused on ellen for some reason this article cut deeper maybe the cumulative factor alongside other content maybe it was the socially charged narratives that had become ever more relevant in recent months but for me once more it was the organization of a slew of stirring stories posted in a credible well moderately credible news outlets in the article the executive producers who are the subject of a lot of the criticism expressed shock at the allegations pledging their commitment to a safe and friendly workspace for all they seek to accept full culpability for the misconduct listed attempting to take attention away from ellen in many ways this wasn't her story once more at the start of the article there was this emphasis on ellen's narrative of being kind effectively being used to contrast with the coming content this wasn't just any workplace this was ellen's workplace and if she was as kind as she was perceived silence was no longer an option yet speaking out was a costly obligation all the same allow me to explain [Music] let's pull it back to ellen as a person and ellen as a show in many ways they are separate entities but the fact that the latter is built on the former means that no matter what the producers asserted this was as much ellen's problem as it was anyone else's as one of these staff members said if she wants to have her own show and have her name on the show title she needs to be more involved to see what's going on one of the greatest problems with this industry is that there's often this separation between individual hosts and the productions behind them that seems easy to forget as an audience member but it is understandable when the host has a more passive role such as in certain reality programs or televised talent contests and even then in many ways as an anchor to the experience a presenter can't expect to be focused on controlling every aspect behind the scenes however this was reaching a point where ellen's neutrality would be seen as a tasked endorsement of an undesirable status quo the allegations were well-founded and so she needed to say something before she could say anything though warner bros stepped in to launch their own exhaustive internal investigation which would determine the source of the problem on july 27 variety reported that a memo had been sent out to staff members the week before announcing the upcoming audit with the consultation of a third party organization and an employee relations group interviews were held and circumstances were assessed and three days after the initial story was published warner bros released a statement on the findings of their assessment revealing quote deficiencies in the workplace environment while also signifying that changes would be made this was a statement made both on behalf of the company and degeneres which probably wasn't the best call but it seems that ellen had distributed her own separate statement to the staff where she communicated remorse for a failure to stay conscious to oversights and shortcomings vowing to make sure that a repeat of such antics would be avoided at all costs this statement was once more picked up by the press who framed it as ellen finally breaking her silence however it was mostly an internal acknowledgement of failings only provoked by the report prime and doesn't really mention much else not that you'd expect it to but it's hardly what some online represented it as nonetheless ellen's statement was enough to begin a strange chain reaction that would take this ongoing controversy to new heights you see although the promise of a more secure work environment may have appeased some employees those not directly affected appeared reluctant to accept her apology likely because many felt that her angle was mostly adopted for the sake of damage control rather than actual regrets as a response to these specific accusations leveled against her many felt this merely added further weight to the belief that she was just another self-interested social vulture and this time it wasn't just the internet revel who were paying attention in fact ellen's statement attracted the eyes of some pretty notable figures one of those who left his input very shortly after the coverage by journalists was the esteemed voice actor brad garrett who had appeared on ellen's show during the 2000s however it appears that any camaraderie had since faded as he laid into the chalk show host pretty harshly commenting in a now deleted tweet that it was quote common knowledge that ellen had mistreated her staff while also claiming to know a few personally this was then reported on by websites one article prompting a reply from back to the future star leia thompson appearing to affirm garrett's postulations with her best yoda impression around the same time australian radio host neil breen no not that neil breen recollected the time he had worked as a producer on a show that interviewed ellen the numerous restrictions that the production team had imposed on them and the subsequent atmosphere that yielded it well when ellen degeneres came to australia to do her show in 2013 i was the executive producer of the today show so we partnered with them that she was brought out here by swiss the vitamin company who was sponsoring the whole thing and originally she was going to co-host the today show then she was going to do this and she was going to do it and the whole thing got watered down to ellen degeneres would do a sit-down interview right we took the whole today show to melbourne at our expense but she would do a sit-down interview with richard wilkins um we walk in and then the ellen show project there was a lot of them there was a lot of people there anyway the producers called us aside and said okay this is how it's going to work here this morning ellen's going to arrive at you know 10 15 and she'll be sitting in this chair here and richard you'll be sitting in this chair here now neil no one's to talk to ellen so you don't talk to her you don't approach her you don't look at her she'll come in she'll sit down she'll talk to richard then ellen will leave and we'll give you the thing and and i sort of said are you fat income oh i can't look at her i found the whole thing bizarre anyway i gotta tell i'm not blaming ellen because i didn't get to talk to her because i wasn't allowed to so i don't know whether she's a nice person or not i wouldn't have a clue but i can tell you the people who worked with uh worked walked on eggshells the whole time and the whole thing was totally bizarre like we're there to do an interview with her to promote what she's doing but you can't look at her like someone get real in case it couldn't get any worse around the time she was being publicly chastised further allegations made towards producers regarding inappropriate advances actions and comments towards employees which include the invitation to provide one of our venerated executives with a hand job and even the occasional group here and there the main recipient of these allegations was producer kevin lemon who many said veiled his conduct in sarcasm yet carried it out in the most predatory fashion there were also allegations which covered two other producers jonathan norman and ed glavin this was corroborated by many other former employees and seemed to incriminate other producers who didn't take action against such behavior degeneracy's own role is not explicitly spoken about but as with previous instance it brings her position into question as a person whose environment should reflect her own values with these further contributions it seemed that ellen's reputation was practically in the gutter and with ratings in freefall being at least partly attributed to the ongoing outcry reprise seemed to be a distant dream you can't exactly be surprised though after all whether ellen was an actively malicious actor or a distant celebrity no longer close to the inner workings of their own product it was undermining her own appeal and as it stood these were the only two explanations that made sense of the situation and neither made her look good however as the walls were caving in it seemed that ellen may have one last shot at redemption coming from those most familiar with her fellow celebrities who wanted to present a third perspective one much more sympathetic we're back with katy perry and you're about to go on tour and uh right you are september you are single and ready to mingle ready from the initial post by kevin t porter there had always been those who had spoken up for our besieged heroin telling of the genuinely positive experiences with her and although it obviously doesn't represent a universal outlook the fact that a fair few of these testimonies were going against the twitter grain made them seem more authentic in a way however they had mostly been isolated and dismissed given their relatively faint presence in a sea of criticism with august however this was about to change as many as shared their negative experiences public figures came out in droves to share their positive ones music producers award-winning actors comedians and many more their stories told a different narrative sure there may be rumors circulating but the experience they had with ellen was invaluable and she has done so many fantastic things for so many people she may not be perfect but surely whatever she was enjoying right now wasn't there she had brought much more light to this world than many others and to oust on the back of hearsay well that's just ludicrous the internet is a place full of negativity and stigmatization and in a year like this it was time to take a step back and remember what people like ellen really gave us a heart-warming sentiment for sure but was it enough to dig ellen out of the hole she had found herself in well let's talk about it with the attestations coming from many household names this third narrative began to gather steam there were so many people paying tribute to ellen's character many of whom would have significant personal background with her maybe online toxicity had overcome us and it was time to look at the bigger picture some clearly agreed with this and echoed the sentiment on their timeline after all ellen had done much more for communities than many of those internet dwellers throwing second-hand shade however at the same time the celebrity narrative didn't exonerate ellen in the way that one may have poked in fact for some it actually solidified more cynical theories relating to a demeanor why is that well let's think back to the initial instance and what many alleged they told us [Applause] [Music] for many it felt like ellen provided preferential treatment to those in her elite circles and had a tendency to shun those outside of that therefore it was completely plausible that those most likely to vouch for her were those in the elite circle now with that in mind there are plenty of appeals to the greater positive effect that ellen has generated beyond those who have direct experience with her given her records in fighting for human rights animal rights and many more this is all well and good but it doesn't really dispel the main point against the tv personality from a social perspective ellen may have left a net positive impact on the world around her i'm sure there are many people that her feel good spirit has touched and inspired on a day-to-day basis equally i'm sure there are many people who have been aided by a charitable ventures and philanthropy but the moment that we let someone's net positive impact absolve them of all possible criticism is the time when our fundamental ability to think critically has failed sure there may be some points where appealing to a greater impact as a public figure is a valid response but responding to people sharing negative experiences and indictments of workplace toxicity doesn't fulfill this criteria a lot of these statements just feel like ellen messes the celebrity twitter group chat asking people to vouch for her because it doesn't seem like any of these people actually have a clue who they're responding to or what's even happening and that these posts were made a few days after the further impropriety allegations just makes them seem even more clueless at the end of the day i'm sure we're all happy that people had a positive experience with someone who they greatly admired but this didn't alter what was happening elsewhere and how many wanted more than just people saying she's nice trust me this sense of divide wasn't aided when former ellen dj tony ochemboa commented that he personally stood with his fellow colleagues and had also experienced some of the reported toxicity in his decade shy stint on the show there was one glimpse of hope for alan on a more personal basis though as samantha ronson a person who has worked with ellen on more than a few occasions came out in support of the under fire tv host saying that her experiences as an employee have been positive creating at least some diversity from outside the celebrity clique the current dj stephen boss or twitch had left a mostly ambiguous comment to the media observing that in spite of the difficulties there was love however that love was clearly not present with three of the producers who in the next week were all fired by warner bros these individuals have been placed under the microscope following the allegations we discussed previously and it's clear that the parent company had viewed these allegations with the gravitas that they warranted or at least their media implications warranted two of the three producers had pleaded their innocence previously denying the claims made against them and as this was an internal investigation it's hard to really comment on the reliability of what was being testified though given the volume of the claims it is hard to dismiss now with that said i think their fates were sealed regardless the whirlwind of media chaos whipped up had already given the corporate bigwigs a headache that was likely shortening their patience with the show's production team and to keep on the producers after such widely endorsed claims had surfaced would have been bad news for them in more ways than one at the end of the day they can be replaced with people who will hopefully land the corporation in less hot water the truth is there's only one person behind the show who's ostensibly indispensable and that's ellen therefore the priority will be to keep her image as clean as possible at all costs now they had mostly failed in this task in the months proceeding however there wasn't much they could do the only person who can defend ellen was ellen but at the same time by doing so she'd be opening up a can of worms unfortunately the worms escaped regardless and had a lot of dirt the celebrity support should have at least provided her with some form of consolation but in fact it partially played into the aspersions espoused by her detractors it brought more attention to an unresolved issue which the company took seriously enough to sack three of their executive staff members and a load of rich people dismissing much of the online outrage as people spreading rumors was incredibly ill time particularly given the eventual outcome of the investigation once the departure of their senior level stuff was announced ellen went on a call to discuss it further with present employees where she is alleged to have contested certain claims about her character such as those that asserted she didn't want people to make eye contact with her an assertion that she branded as false as well as this she reaffirmed her commitment to being much more active behind the scenes and not just being an on-screen persona which is good however as she had likely realized now this wasn't just about her employees this was a public issue where the inner workings of an otherwise beloved daytime program had been exposed and she had to be the one to put it right in many ways the sympathetic explanation of this predicament that we discussed at the start of this part was still not out of the question but some judgments can't come from third-party testimony alone anyone can vouch for another person but sometimes that person has to speak for themselves and let people judge them on the basis of their own sincerity this wasn't a situation where lawyers producers managers or celebrities could speak on ellen's behalf this was a wrong that she had to write ellen built a career on the back of kindness a sentiment that when fabricated people do not take lightly the question was whether ellen was a woman of her work and at this point we didn't even know what her word was now when i spoke about the record low ratings on the ellen degeneres show being partially attributed to the controversy you may wonder what the other reasons were well simply put they were reruns and reruns will inevitably draw less viewers as some have already watched the episodes being aired nonetheless a new season was around the corner and that meant a fresh start but you can't really start over until you bring this saga to an end over the last few months ellen's reputation had been a living nightmare with many substantiated claims against her and as she has slowly transformed into this internet caricature with not even an attempt to defend herself it felt like she was losing grip on what she even stood for but she still had one thing if you're watching her show and that means she still had one more chance to redefine her values would she take that chance well she would have to dig deep oh boy welcome to season 18 of the ellen degeneres show september the 21st 2020 the 18th season of the ellen degeneres show was brace release its journey onto the screen although not free from obstacles had likely led many involved to a better place dj steven boss was also now an executive producer so hopefully he would bring some of his signature love and all in all it had made those responsible more committed to a supportive structure for employees i think we can all agree that this can be considered a broad positive however it was always greater than this show it was about the person at the center and that individual still had many devotees and detractors alike waiting for her to tackle what had cast a great shadow over her throughout this tumultuous year in a way this wasn't just for her but for everyone who had looked up to her over the years an overt renewal of a doctrine that had been taken for granted previously this time she had to mean it how did she fare as you may have heard this summer there were allegations of a toxic work environment at our show and then there was an investigation i learned that things happened here that never should have happened i take that very seriously and i want to say i am so sorry to the people who are affected i know that i'm in a position of privilege and power and i realize that with that comes responsibility and i take responsibility for what happens at my show we have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks about the show our workplace and what we want for the future we have made the necessary changes and today we are starting a new chapter well the apology is quite brief in the context of the show and mostly addresses claims in their general state as shown in the clip previously she discusses the office environment and accepts responsibility for misconduct that occurred under her nose in fact this part is all executed reasonably well with ellen reiterating the need for a fresh start however we then reach the crux of a lot of people's issues ellen's own character something which the tv host should know better than anyone else and her apology apologia is certainly a sight to behold there are also articles in the press and on social media that said that i am not who i appear to be on tv because i became known as the be kind lady the truth is i am that person that you see on tv i am also a lot of other things i sometimes i get sad i get mad i get anxious i get frustrated i get impatient i am a work in progress and i'm especially working on the impatience thing because and it's not going well in her monologue she once more avoids specific details opting instead to confront the general sentiment behind the allegations and the message that many within the press were using the stories to push she calls upon her humanity and her imperfections and concedes that she isn't perfect but is working every day to improve it a very noble ethos indeed she finishes by having a discussion with the new producer twitch and using it as a vehicle to convey that sense of progress you know the summer was a little crazy it was intense but i there's been during that time there's been a lot of a lot of learning a lot of discussions a lot of listening you and i have had numerous discussions and for me i'm just so excited to be back here in the studio so we can do what we do best which is bring laughter love and fun right and also lead by example by putting our best foot forward after a bounce back right so it's all love i'm so excited for this season it's all love that's that's all that's real is love that's the truth after this delightful speech ellen moved on i mean she moved on to the next segment of her show which i'll assume is hilarious comedy and trademark ellen degeneres hijinx thank goodness it was all over yet for many people it wasn't over in fact the reception on the subsequent youtube upload was not the warmest with the light dislike ratios indicating a widespread rejection of ellen's return and subsequent declamation most comments and video responses were tinged by clear doubt in her integrity after all with such plentiful allegations you cannot easily brush it aside in the space of five minutes with her i'm not perfect so what narrative i always try to grow as a person i look at everything that comes into my life as an opportunity to learn i got into this business to make people laugh and feel good that's that's my favorite thing to do and now i am a boss of 270 people 270 people who help make this show what it is 270 people who i am so grateful for all i want is for every single one of them to be happy and to be proud to work here however what did i think well after going through the whole situation this video struck a weird chord for sure it is brief the humor interspersed with these serious apologies feels a bit awkward the laugh tracks aren't necessary and they carry on cutting back to twitch clapping at very unprompted points like ellen just ended racism and also talks about what's going on in the world which although not necessarily used as a point of defense can feel like it's trying to detract from the allegations which isn't what you really desire from this sort of video at the same time i feel like as ellen's super fans go they will be won over by this explanation and to be fair i can't exactly blame them for that my hope is that we can still be a place of happiness and joy i still want to be the one hour a day that people can go to escape and laugh i want to continue to help all the people that we help every day and i'm committed to making this the best season that we have ever had when i spoke about the celebrity elite earlier i mentioned how in many ways a lot of their comments were irrelevant to the charges brought against her because the greater character implications only followed from specific instance here ellen doesn't address the specific instance and that will understandably frustrate viewers at the same time she deals with them in a way that does umbrella the allegations and seek to explain them through the lens that the be kind narrative is obviously not always the most beneficial to her image as it's not always something she can commit to she is not perfect and this seeks to tackle the underlying insinuations behind other claims being known as the be kind lady is a tricky position to be in so let me give you some advice out there if anybody's thinking of changing their title or giving yourself a nickname do not go with the be kind lady this is where it becomes even more complicated and i would like to reintroduce the previous explanations for her behavior the more cynical and the more sympathetic with commentators and critics alike many have began to work off the assumption that ellen was this bad person a tyrant who treated her employees terribly and therefore of course this speech would not win them over because the only way to really undermine that rather unforgiving narrative would be if ellen directly responded to and debunked each and every more austere allegation that was simply not going to happen in a way we have been blessed by comprehensive responses from youtubers in the past because the allegations often feel more personal to them and they want to clear themselves but it's not something that translates across to other industries ellen wasn't going to release a 40 minute tell response to each individual claim with some ambiguous lowercase title not if she didn't feel like she needed to no her responses take cues from both the other two explanations on one hand she clearly was out of touch and she should be more involved in the well-being of those around her she had become distant from what she had previously found affinity with at the same time she is human and will have bad days where people may not see the best side of her i've played a straight woman in movies so i'm a pretty good actress but i don't think that i'm that good that i could come out here every day for 17 years and fool you this is me if people were more inclined to show leniency towards ellen people like her supporters then i think they may well buy this explanation ellen appeals to those fans when she talks about her time on the show how they should know her this is not directed at those who already dislike her this is for people who are gonna be responsive who have stuck around who've seen what ellen has done after all whether people choose to forgive her or not those who are not ellen enthusiasts before are unlikely to become element enthusiasts after and if ellen transformed the show into one elongated response she would only hemorrhage more viewers this was an appeal to people who knew her who knew who the real ellen was but was it enough really who was the real ellen [Music] over the next month following the response and leading up to the time of writing the script ellen's show has found some semblance of stability however ratings have been down and that has been unsurprisingly picked up by many outlets with the current circumstances changing the world as we know it it's hard to tell if this is permanent but it will certainly foster some disquietude amongst the corporate honchos all right guillermo you have to go down it's going to be good you're going down here oh god all right don't worry guillermo how was that terrible okay oh my god are we done no you're going back up oh my god the show itself hasn't changed too much which has been a bit more involved in comparison to previous seasons i guess as one of the more perceptibly unproblematic individuals his presence is a more effective instrument to win back people who may feel disillusioned with ellen and her routine there are still stories being published here and there about how ellen has treated those around her though unless there are any huge developments i'd expect these to fade as people gradually lose interest in the topic and move on to the next badly behaving star leaving this american idol to her own devices rebuilding that which she may have lost before she loses far more it's hard to believe that the plug will be pulled with the current ratings and it's still important to remember that a bad season for ellen is still far better than a good season for most broadcasts at the same time doing badly by one's own standards can still be demoralizing and there will be questions as to whether it's worth pushing on under such pretenses as it stands it appears that she will but there's no real surprise behind why viewership may well be down for a program that couldn't respect its own foundation ellen herself took the reputational benefits that the show bestowed onto her for granted and eventually it came back to bite her but the burning question is how much did she know and what exactly did she do what rubs a lot of people the wrong way is the hypocrisy of it when you project this image out of the world of being kind and loving and charitable but it turns out to all be a facade to make yourself look better when in actuality you're kind of a monster behind the scenes that's worse than just unapologetically being an [ __ ] you reel people in with this fake persona and get them to fall in love with you but you've actually been lying to their face this entire time youtubers and much of the press were largely unanimous in delivering their prognosis often framing ellen is indifferent to the suffering of those around her even outright indulging in it this was backed up by testimonies from people who claim to work with her and substantial evidence that for many elaborated on an already well grounded perspective how with all this acknowledged i feel like it was quite a selective set of evidence picked by those online but i do agree we shouldn't only be blaming ellen i would also say that warner is probably more guilty here than what ellen is oh and of course the other employees who also contributed and making the workspace terrible for me personally it's difficult to ignore the number of testimonies which actually refrained from incriminating especially those outside the celebrity clique the comprehensive expose from former employees stresses that ellen was not directly aware even though she did neglect a certain degree of responsibility are the stories where she's presented as a borderline psychopath incompatible with this not entirely but the depiction of the workplace where ellen is like this detached matriarch kind of makes it harder to believe that she also occupied the role of the power hungry dictator who punishes people for her own pleasure especially when some of her former colleagues go as far to defend her at the same time they'll form employees who would attack her such as ex-producer header muscat who working with ellen between 2002 and 2004 had a very different idea of her awareness she laughed and she said every production needs their dog meaning meaning ed is her dog like her attack dog her attack dog so therefore she doesn't need to do that he took the role of being the attack dog that she didn't have to now be the attack dog so she didn't have to yell so when ellen says she's not aware of this environment you don't think that rings true it's a lie with all this factored in it does become conflicting there are so many people with different ideas of who ellen is especially given that many of them work to the show at the same time and they may all have their own reasons for the positions they take reasons that we'll never fully understand now as said there isn't a reality where these two experiences can't co-exist and the people who have advocated for it certainly makes it worthy of consideration but by writing out people's nuanced thoughts to suit a more one-dimensional character portrait you risk two things first of all downplaying the role that other actors have played the corporation producers colleagues for example and secondly undermining the actual experience many of the more solidified allegations seem to imply i think that a lot of viewers had predetermined opinions which led to a lot of people becoming overly pedantic with what was really just a pretty average response to drama even with some of these experts oh boy welcome to season 18 of the ellen degeneres show generous show generous show there's a bit of a self-soothe followed by a prayer we've got a behavioral cluster although she's trying to give this jovial energetic hey it's okay let's move on she's very aware very aware about the potential downside of getting this wrong but why should she be bothered about it if she hasn't done the stuff that she's been accused of why is she praying what i'm sorry but i would be 100 uncomfortable addressing allegations whether they were true or not telling someone that they don't have anything to worry about if they haven't done anything wrong is a good pet talk but it's certainly not an impenetrable attack on the accused you can make the argument that the fact that she's nervous is addictive that she clearly does care about this and i feel to a degree she would have faced criticism however she approached the response or this comment which states that because she added a conditional clause she was dismissing responsibility despite the fact that saying if was the most logical placement in the sentence given its generality and if i've ever let someone down if i've ever hurt their feelings i am so sorry for that if that's ever the case i have let myself down and i've hurt myself as well if you use if in these circumstances you are not a bad person and i don't think it means that you're dismissing it i've used it in that context before and i don't think that it's unfair to use it it seems like so many people are trying to galaxy brain analyze her statement when it may just be a bit lackluster and contrived in other cases stories can be twisted either through hyperbole for anecdotal purposes or the classic scenario of telephone another good example of this is the chip nail polish instant one comment to record that the situation in question involved ellen phoning up the branch management and attempting to have the employee fired following it but then the actual person who was at the center of the commotion commented saying ellen had made a complaint which almost resulted in her being fired now i'm not trying to use this as a gotcha moment to prove the story as false because i don't disbelieve it one iota but once again it's a case of how stories can be contorted by narratives a complaint with the intent to encourage a dismissal is very different to a complaint that almost leads to a dismissal as one implies much more about a plaintiff's intent neither version of events flatters ellen of course i still think it's rather daft but the difference is still notable this story is over by pharah herself in an all stand-up routine obviously for humorous effect and i don't think it discredits her story at all but it's easy to see how such details are told sparingly when they don't hold too much consequence even though with today's context they may be decisive in understanding evan and i think some testimonies did fall foul to this weakness especially once told from a third party perspective i understand self torture because for years i worked at an organic vegan mecca serving people i was released after a really popular talk show host emailed the owner and complained about my ship's nail polish true story with a lot of these stories if you become too fixated on the role eden plays and not the ways that other individuals may have contributed [ __ ] bosses insensitive or coercive producers or anyone behind the scenes who is often much less accountable but still may hold a degree of power it's easy to lose sight of who else may have actually contributed to a situation and how they may also need to be held responsible for their actions in some ways ellen had gotten away with too much for too long at the same time she shouldn't become a scapegoat too easily for other people's misdoings either the whole ellen is a sadistic psycho narrative may be more exciting but is it the most plausible i'll let you decide that's a more devil's advocate arguments for now i will leave on some more assured criticism because there's more than enough to go around whether ellen's genuinely mean or not it seems there are a lot of legitimate grievances stemming from less than perfect encounters from an outsider's perspective ellen allowed herself to be separated from the masses of subsequently fall out of touch with narratives that she branded herself with we're all going to be cold and distant from time to time and i wouldn't attack her on the basis of that but i think it's very possible that this distance led to tone death and insensitive behavior that has likely hurt a fair few people it could equally lend itself to pedantic micromanaging and comments that rub others the wrong way one of the saddest situations that encompasses this is ellen's relationship with her head writer karen kilgriff a previously strong and productive bond broken apart by partisan interests with ellen just going with it for me if something like that happened especially with business as it is i would talk to them understand their perspective ellen didn't have enough control of her own production or even her own character sometimes and even if what she felt from time to time was real the show just wasn't it was a well-produced veneer to another rope broadcast that suffered from the same issues the symptomatic of too many hollywood creations it needed more humanity and maybe ellen needs it too this is me the season 18 monologue wasn't the first time ellen has spoken about her brand of kindness and the toll it can take in the 2018 interview that i quoted earlier on in the video she spoke about the mythical real element and the weight of audience expectations on her to maintain a brand that she doesn't always identify with the article emphasizing this revealing that in person she's more blunt introspective and interesting than she is on the show willing to express mild irritation that may seem off-key in front of a national audience some expect her to smile all the time be cheerful even dance something that she stops doing on her show a few years back because it was just too much at the same time even with the controversy she's continued to pursue the kindness image even recently launching this lovely be kind merchandise she's around for too long james all these people walk away you've been famous forever walk away like eventually everybody they're just gonna figure it out a lot of people close to ellen recognize what the show had done for her public persona but you could also observe that the show had constrained her image in a way that previous ventures hadn't establishing standards that she couldn't live up to some around ellen her wife included had encouraged degeneres to consider other avenues yet our intrepid title character perseveres if the pre-allegation interview against anything it was that the tv star saw her career path as a mixed blessing and was more aware of the perils than some may think but it couldn't avert the inevitable tragedy the use of this interview to promote her netflix comedy special relatable is certainly ironic in hindsight the theme being satirical commentary on her place amongst the media elite and detachment from the hoi poloi a concept that would rear its head incoming capers a few years ago i started ending my show by saying be kind to one another but here's the downside i can never do anything unkind ever i shouldn't even have a horn in my car like if someone cuts me off in a dangerous way if i honk they're like ellen kindness is a virtue not a brand and expecting anyone to be the paragon of such a pure quality is bound to cause disappointment at the same time it's not wrong to expect better from someone who claimed to be better someone who used the kindness narrative when it suited them extending it to people who many would argue hadn't practiced it themselves yet neglecting it with those who probably needed it more ellen seemed to be lost in the cosmos of her own status and if anything i hope the situation will pull her back down to earth at the start of this video i spoke about the similarities between youtubers and talk show hosts however what they may share in presentation they differ greatly in composition and ellen is a prime example of that a person who character aside many will now see it as an algorithmically calibrated puppet maintained by contract rather than whatever the real ellen is the only person who may know who the real ellen is is ellen herself and i hope she takes the time to find out what that means however if she wants to reclaim her public image then it may take more than just a monologue it's going to take gradual healing exemplified by her own actions and i hope those who still believe in her will be rewarded in their faith before i knew it i had a successful sitcom and i came out and then i lost that sitcom and then i got another sitcom and i lost that sitcom too and after that i got a talk show and i was able to be myself and that was 17 years ago and i feel like you've all really gotten to know me over the past 17 years the ellen degeneres arc is certainly a fascinating one a person who built an image from a philosophy rooted in struggle some of which she experienced directly with her tv career only to be accused of deserting it when she ascended the industry ranks it's not a rare phenomenon plenty of people are corrupted this way but it seemed more exceptional given her own convictions and as a person who had been widely regarded as a national treasure her downfall was almost awaited by those who knew the potential of such a story the twist villain per se with content on and off youtube attracting widespread publicity and pulling apart what had taken years to construct whether the damage to her image will ever be repaired is another question and it'll depend on factors within and likely beyond her control until then the best she can do is show that she does truly care about kindness because heaven knows we need it right now i want to thank olivia munn ryan gosling macklemore have a wonderful weekend be kind to one another bye that was the video what a great video we had a great time recording that i want to give big thanks to my editors what a great set of chaps and chapes's and chaparrinos love you all and make sure you check them out in the pinned comment as always big thanks to my patreons or my patrons as a as i've been informed ten dollar patrons are up on screen right now but i want to give a special personal thanks to my 50 patrons devon shiro chigo amanda hypercube caroline and samhala blue tree and pokey siren also 50 patrons and my hundred dollar patron christopher carrass thank you so much for your continued support it really does make a difference i cannot express that enough i love you guys my social medias will also be in the pinned comments i don't know what else i have to add at this point i had a great time recording this as apha mentioned my ear was playing up but i just stuck a headphone a little raycon bud in there quite deep and that has suppressed it for now which allowed me to talk over it so if you're listening to this ear [ __ ] you if you're listening to this anyone else thank you and thank you for your continued support take care guys [Music] you

Channel: The Right Opinion

Views: 2,574,214

Rating: 4.8745694 out of 5

Keywords: ellen degeneres, the ellen show, ellen, ellen degeneres mean, ellen mean, ellen degeneres apology, ellen degeneres being rude, ellen degeneres dakota johnson, ellen degeneres mariah carey, ellen degeneres nikkietutorials, ellen degeneres loses it, ellen degeneres apologizes, theellenshow, tro ellen, the right opinion, ellen's first monologue of season 18, ellen degeneres show, the ellen degeneres show

Id: _dvag5i55Yc

Length: 78min 36sec (4716 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 16 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/jjett]

Anyone that has an hour and a half to watch the video, care to summarize?

[u/thebendavis]

I got about 23 minutes in when I realized that I don't give a shit. The creator of the video definitely did his research, and is a talented editor. But this could just have been five minutes of her being an obvious cunt and we'd just go on living our lives.

[u/hextasy]

I'm curious, but I'm not 1hr18min curious

[u/sectorfour]

hour plus long documentary

Yeah that's a no from me dog.

[u/SantasDead]

I've never understood how anyone enjoyed her. She's weird and awkward and not funny.

She was perfect for Dori, not much else.

[u/cellus5000]

Can someone give me like some examples of the shittiest things she's done

[u/funkperson]

caring about celebrities

We the trending page of Youtube now?

[u/antiterra]

Does it have any video/audio footage of her losing it Tom Cruise style? If not, not interested.

[u/GilgaFrank]

I know precisely nothing about the allegation against Ellen DeGeneres but I'm not going to form an opinion based on a Youtube channel called "The Right Opinion", especially as the other videos on there are all just bandwagon-hopping takedowns of whoever happens to be Youtube news that week. If there's one thing no one needs it's another half-informed echo chamber.