Just a happy face?
Did Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson bring down one of the most popular talkshow hosts in history?
Well, no — but you might have recently seen a lot of Twitter jokes that say so. Ellen Degeneres’s reputation has been on a downward slide since last fall, when, during a particularly awkward interview, Degeneres accused Johnson of not inviting her to a birthday party and Johnson replied with the now infamous quote, “Actually, no, that’s not the truth, Ellen.”
But that’s just one of several controversial incidents surrounding Degeneres, culminating in a more serious way last week after Buzzfeed articles alleging a toxic work environment on the daily talk show, and allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct by producers. Warner Bros. launched an internal investigation. Degeneres sent an email to staff that said she took responsibility as the face of the show, but criticized her employees for not doing their jobs “as they knew I’d want them done.” As a result, she wrote, she and the production company will be “taking steps, together, to correct the issues.”
Here’s a guide to how DeGeneres’s public persona went from the “new Queen of Nice” to even fellow celebrities calling her out for treating people “horribly.”
December 2018: The New York Times profile
Even if you don’t regularly tune in to her hugely successful talk show (on the air since 2003), you probably know one thing: She’s known for being super nice. Not only is her daily sign-off “be kind to one another,” she used to open each episode with some goofy dancing, which endeared millions of viewers to her every afternoon. She frequently gives money and gifts to people in need, and has had many viral segments involving adorable children meeting their heroes.
But when The New York Times published a profile with the clearly provocative headline “Ellen Degeneres is not as nice as you think,” it also had some truth to it. In a rare interview, Degeneres spoke candidly about the pressure to be seen as happygo-lucky all the time
Reporter Jason Zinoman also asked her about the long- circulating rumours in Hollywood — that she, actually, is the opposite of her on- camera personality, and not that nice to her employees. Degeneres responded, “That bugs me if someone is saying that because it’s an outright lie. The first day I said: ‘ The one thing I want is everyone here to be happy and proud of where they work, and if not, don’t work here.’ No one is going to raise their voice or not be grateful. That’s the rule to this day.”
January 2019: The Kevin Hart interview
The show has long been seen as a friendly spot for A- list stars looking to promote their new projects. In January 2019, Kevin Hart appeared shortly after he had stepped down as Academy Awards host, because of controversy over his previous homophobic tweets and jokes. Degeneres, whose coming out as gay on her sitcom in 1997 was a groundbreaking moment for the LGBTQ community, said she believed in second chances and urged him to ignore the negative comments online. She also called the academy and asked them to rehire Hart. This led to a swift backlash against DeGeneres for deeming Hart as forgiven, even though many people were still offended by his homophobic comments and didn’t appreciate being dismissed as “haters.”
October 2019: The George W. Bush photo
Last fall, Degeneres and former U.S. president George W. Bush were photographed speaking and laughing together at a football game. The image sparked internet outrage because Degeneres, an LGBTQ advocate whose career suffered when she came out, was so friendly with a politician who had supported a ban on same-sex marriage and whose administration had launched the Iraq War.
Degeneres’s explanation on her show the next week, peppered with jokes, did not impress her critics. “People were upset. They thought, ‘ Why is a gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative Republican president?’” Degeneres said during her monologue. “Here’s the thing: I’m friends with George Bush. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have. We’re all different, and I think that we’ve forgotten that’s OK that we’re all different.”
But many disagreed, summarized in one sample Youtube comment: “Ellen whitewashing the crimes of a war criminal as ‘differences of opinion’ like not wearing fur actually has me lose faith in humanity.”
November 2019: The Johnson interview
This incident may have opened the floodgates. DeGeneres began their interview by noting Johnson had recently turned 30: “How was the party? I wasn’t invited.”
Johnson, decidedly unamused, shot back: “Actually, no, that’s not the truth, Ellen. You were invited.” Degeneres looked taken aback, as Johnson continued to say that she remembered DeGeneres had been offended she wasn’t invited to her 29th birthday, so the actress made sure to include her for her 30th. “I didn’t even know you wanted to be invited,” Johnson said.
“Who doesn’t want to be invited to a party?” Degeneres asked.
“I didn’t even know you liked me!” Johnson exclaimed, as Degeneres insisted she did, in fact, like her. “But I did invite you and you didn’t come, so …”
“Are you sure? How do you know? I don’t think so,” DeGeneres said.
“Ask everybody,” Johnson said flatly, drawing an audible gasp from the audience. “Ask Jonathan, your producer.”
Eventually, it was confirmed that yes, Johnson had invited Degeneres, but she was out of that town that weekend ( many surmised that it was likely when she was in Dallas at the Cowboys game with Bush, as Johnson’s birthday was earlier that week).
April: The pandemic- related incidents
Several weeks after the pandemic shut down production in Hollywood, DeGeneres posted a Youtube video comparing being in quarantine to jail, a joke seen as especially tone- deaf given that she was sitting in her palatial California home while the spread of the virus in prisons was dire.
About a week later, Variety reported that Ellen employees were panicking because they had been told very little about their future, including whether they would continue to be paid — and the host allegedly hired non- union tech employees in the meantime to produce the show remotely from her house. The production company, which eventually gave the employees some answers, blamed the lack of communication on the “chaos” of the pandemic, Variety wrote.
On July 16, Buzzfeed published a long story by Krystie Lee Yandoli, who interviewed former Ellen show employees ( and one current one) who alleged a toxic environment of “racism, fear, and intimidation.”
Two weeks later, Yandoli published another story that reported, according to dozens of people who worked behind the scenes at the show, “the office is a place where sexual harassment and misconduct by top executive producers runs rampant” — which Warner Bros. says it is investigating.
Degeneres also sent an email to staff that said there will be changes: “On Day 1 of our show, I told everyone in our first meeting that The Ellen Degeneres Show would be a place of happiness — no one would ever raise their voice, and everyone would be treated with respect. Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry.”
A Daily Mail story published Saturday suggested the show “feels done,” but executive producer Andy Lassner dismissed the idea on Twitter saying, “Nobody is going off the air.”
When asked for comment, a Warner Bros. rep replied that the season première of The Ellen Degeneres Show is Sept. 9.