Streaming giant Netflix is no stranger to giving comedians a platform to debut their new specials, nor are they strangers to giving the opportunity to some more controversial voices, either. Earlier this year, for instance, the Internet was ablaze over comedian Matt Rife’s stand-up special, which had jokes in poor taste about domestic violence and a general undercurrent of misogyny which left a sour taste in many viewers’ mouths.
The poor critical reception didn’t seem to stop Netflix or Matt, however, and he in fact has another special that is set to come out soon. That is, Netflix doesn’t seem to mind putting out specials that cause backlash among audience members so long as it increases their viewership. The latest of these more controversial stand-up sets is from an older, more familiar reality TV face—none other than former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.
Ellen Addresses Her Cancellation In Her New Special
In a new stand-up special titled “For Your Approval,” Ellen gets back on stage for the first time in a long while, and in it she tries to clear her name after a career-altering scandal. A few years ago, reports came to light about the horrible working conditions on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, with claims from employees that Ellen harassed and tormented them. The claims resulted in a subsequent investigation by Warner Bros. TV Group, and in the end, Ellen wound up bringing her show to a close in 2022.
Since then, Ellen has made very few public appearances and has been the subject of a tremendous amount of online backlash. After portraying herself as so cheerful and likable on her talk show, it seems that fans felt extra betrayed to learn the dark truths about the comedian. Now, a few years removed from her “cancelation,” Ellen takes the stage anew to set the record straight—or at least, she tries to.
In her set, Ellen addresses what it was like to effectively be blacklisted from the entertainment industry. It’s clear that her experience isn’t one that most people can relate to, and in fact she jokes about just how unrelatable her situation was.
She elaborates on what her conversations with her therapist had been like about the matter:
It was not a common situation for a therapist to deal with. At one point, my therapist said, ‘Ellen where do you get this idea that everyone hates you?’ And I said, ‘Well,
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While it seems like Ellen is aware of how singular her situation was, that doesn’t mean she goes on to actually address the wrongdoing towards her former employees. In fact, Ellen’s set is distinctly lacking in any real sort of accountability for her past behaviors. Instead, she appears to spend the hour downplaying the past accusations, refusing to take them seriously and doubling down on the fact that she’s still a lovely, likable person who deserves her second chance.
When it comes to the toxic work environment she created, Ellen uses euphemisms to describe the situation. At one point, she notes that she was “a very immature boss,” but she never uses any stronger language to describe herself than that. She also tries to hide behind the guise of misogyny towards women in the workplace, noting that, if she’d been a man, she wouldn’t have experienced nearly the same amount of vitriol as she did as a woman.
Whether this is true or not, of course, is difficult to prove exactly, but what is clear is that Ellen is determined not to take any of the blame, and rather angles herself in her new set as a sort of “girl boss” who was done wrong. Part of her tactic in doing so is hinting that there are, in fact, several terrible people in the entertainment industry. “I got kicked out of show business because I’m mean,” she joked, “You can’t be mean and be in show business. They’ll kick you out.”
Ellen Talks About Feeling Trapped In Her Character
Ellen goes on to talk about how she felt that she was painted into a corner with her show, for she became known as being this kind, friendly person, and that, as a result of that, it was a persona she had to maintain all the time. She noted that she felt like a “character” during filming more than she did her true self. Back when Ellen hosted her daily talk show, for instance, she would end each episode by saying “Be kind to one another.”
When the accusations about her toxic behavior came out publicly, it wasn’t difficult to see the deep irony between Ellen’s episodic mantra and her actions in reality. In the special, Ellen laments the way her show persona had limited people’s view of her, explaining that it set up a false expectation from others.
Ellen went on to joke about how a different closing line may have altered those expectations of her:
Had I ended my show by saying, ‘Go f*** yourselves,’ people would have been pleasantly surprised to find out I’m kind.
In the end, Ellen doesn’t ever actually apologize for any of her past wrongdoings and seems to be able to get the last word on the situation. The 66-year-old notes that she initially got into comedy as a way to heal her “childhood wounds,” appealing to her remaining fans’ sympathy for a once much younger Ellen.
In the final moments of rewriting her narrative, Ellen says, “If I’m being honest, and I have a choice of people remembering me as someone who is mean, or someone who is beloved, I choose that.” At the end of her set, the audience erupts in applause, and Ellen is able to take it in graciously. She even brings out her wife Portia onto the stage, who appears teary-eyed—whether prideful of Ellen, relieved to see that her partner’s able to get back onstage without backlash, or somewhere in between, it’s impossible to say.