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“That ‘be kind’ bullshit only happens when the cameras are on. It’s all for show,” one former employee claimed in the exposé. “I know they give money to people and help them out, but it’s for show.”
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“On day one 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,” she wrote in a letter to staffers. “Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry.”
In August 2020, it was also announced that executive producers Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman, and Jonathan Norman had been fired from the show.
At the time, Ellen told the Hollywood Reporter that she was ending the talk show because it was no longer a creative challenge for her.
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Looking back on the public perception of her as “a one-dimensional character who gave stuff away and danced up steps,” Ellen said she would “try to avoid looking at the news” in the scandal’s aftermath.
“The hate went on for a long time,” she said after describing herself as “the most hated person in America” at the time. “The ‘be kind’ girl wasn’t kind. That was the headline.”
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“I’m giving stuff away…and I danced, then I was mean, and they didn’t like me again,” she said of the controversy. “It’s been such a toll on my ego and my self-esteem. There’s such extremes in this business, people either love you and idolize you or they hate you, and those people somehow are louder.”
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“She was watching it happen to me,” Ellen said, recalling the “funk” she experienced in the “hard” aftermath of the allegations. “She went through it with me.”
After saying she didn’t dance during the tough period because “it's hard to dance when you're crying,” Ellen reassured fans that she and Portia are both “dancing now.”
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“This was like, What is going on? It was so hurtful,” she said. “I couldn’t gain perspective. I couldn’t do anything to make myself understand that it wasn’t personal. … I just thought, ‘Well, this is not the way I wanted to end my career, but this is the way it’s ending.’”
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“It took a long time for me to want to do anything again,” she added. “I just hated the way the show ended. I love that show so much, and I just hated that the last time people would see me is that way.”