Ellen DeGeneres addresses ‘mean’ behavior and workplace toxicity scandal in Netflix special: This is what she said

Ellen DeGeneres turns her toxic workplace scandal into a punchline in her new Netflix special.

The comedian, whose popular eponymous talk show ended on Day 2022 after staff members accused her of racism and intimidation, used her last stand-up special (ever, she says), Ellen DeGeneres: For your permission, to have the last word. In it, she made fun of her “kick-out from show business” and the rumors that she was “mean.”

DeGeneres told the audience at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis that she didn’t think she’d ever do another special – or “anything after the show ever again” – because “I didn’t think I’d ever find it funny.” During the hour-long special, however, she said it was “more than healing to say the words” she had kept to herself and “to say goodbye in my own way.”

What does DeGeneres say about her “kick out of showbiz” and her “bad” reputation?

A 2020 BuzzFeed exposé showed current and past Ellen DeGeneres Show Employees are making allegations of racism, intimidation and sexual harassment behind the scenes. DeGeneres was not the target of the allegations, which were investigated by WarnerMedia, but was criticized for allowing that climate to fester. While the show ran until 2022, DeGeneres’ reputation took a hit. Social media was flooded with stories claiming the host known for telling people to “be nice” was actually the so-called Queen of Meanness.

“I got kicked out of show business,” DeGeneres said on the special. “Yes, because I’m mean. You can’t be mean and be in show business. They’ll kick you out. There are no mean people in show business.”

She also says she was previously kicked out of show business after coming out in 1997.

“No gays in show business,” she joked. “They’ll kick you out. You can’t be gay and be in show business. At some point they’ll kick me out a third time because I’m old – mean, old and gay – the triple crown.”

DeGeneres said “the problem” is: “I’m a comedian who gets a talk show, and I end the show every day saying, ‘Be nice to each other.’ Yes, I know it seemed like a good idea. But here’s the flip side. I can never do anything unkind again now.”

She added: “If I had ended my show by saying ‘Fuck you,’ people would have been pleasantly surprised to find out that I’m nice.”

DeGeneres also addressed the headlines that followed, talking about how she became the “most hated person in America.”

“I didn’t see the other names on the ballot, but it’s an impressive title,” she joked. “It really is. It’s a terrible thing to say about someone.”

DeGeneres said she had been “in therapy” to “deal with all the hate” thrown at her and that it had affected her mental health.

What does she say about her talk show?

“I loved everything about that show,” DeGeneres said. “It was a family.”

However, she admitted, “I was a very immature boss,” with jokes and pranks including snakes falling from the ceiling of her office at the push of a button. She said this was because “I didn’t want to be a boss. I didn’t go to business school.”

Although her name was mentioned on the show, “I don’t think that means I should take responsibility,” she said. “I don’t think Ronald McDonald is the CEO of McDonald’s.”

She spoke about how she was raised to be a “people pleaser” and how female bosses in particular are encouraged to tread carefully in the workplace.

“We have all these unwritten rules about gender, about acceptable behavior, about who we can be and how we can behave, and when we don’t follow those rules, it makes people uncomfortable,” she said.

“And if people feel uncomfortable, there are consequences for those of you who are following the score,” she added, referring to her Ellen The sitcom was canceled in 1998 after her coming out.

What else does DeGeneres joke about?

She also used humor to talk about other serious topics. For example, she revealed that she suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD).

DeGeneres also spoke about her mother Betty’s dementia, which she described as “horrible.” Betty, now 94, lives in a nursing home.

There was a lot of lighter stuff, too. DeGeneres offered observations about cars, chickens, dry cleaning, gardening, pigeons, butterflies, bone density tests, climate change and sweatpants. She also said she hasn’t had any Botox or fillers since leaving TV.

Does Portia de Rossi make a cameo?

Yes, her wife, an actress, came on stage at the end to thunderous applause. DeGeneres noted that it was their 16th wedding anniversary.

As for other celebrity mentions, DeGeneres also mentioned that she turned down an invitation to a Mick Jagger party because she didn’t want to change out of her tracksuit, and that she arrived early enough to help set up Usher’s Grammy party.

DeGeneres also talked about seeing more Wheel of Fortune in her free time and was curious to see which dress Vanna White would wear in each episode.

What were your parting words?

During the final applause, DeGeneres told the crowd that she was “proud” of who she is.

As a public figure, “I spent my whole life trying to make people happy and cared too much about what others thought of me,” she said. “The thought of anyone thinking I was mean was devastating to me and consumed me for a long time. … After worrying all my life, I just can’t do that anymore. So I’m not doing it anymore.”

She said she had a choice whether she wanted people to remember me as someone who was mean or someone who was loved, and she chooses the latter.

At the end, DeGeneres told the audience, who gave her a standing ovation, that she “had no intention of doing a special. I had no intention of ever doing anything again after the show. I didn’t think I would ever find this funny.” However, on her comedy tour “Ellen’s Last Stand… Up,” she was able to see “the love and support that is still there for me that I didn’t know I had,” which was “incurable.”

“I’m so glad I got to do this,” she said. “I’m so glad I got to say goodbye on my terms, and I can’t thank you enough.”

Ellen DeGeneres: For your consent is streaming on Netflix.