Six celebs owed an apology from Ellen DeGeneres

By now you’ve either heard that Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show has come to a close, or you’ve been living under a rock.

While it can’t be denied the show was iconic in a lot of ways, and had moments that made a huge impact for the right reasons – during the final episode, DeGeneres even shared that she wasn’t allowed to use the word ‘gay’ when the show first aired in 2003 – there was a reason DeGeneres was culturally cancelled well before the actual show was.

That reason was mostly to do with staff allegations of mistreatment on set, a little bit to do with likening lockdown to jail while living in her giant mansion with a huge yard, and partly to do with the celebrities she did dirty on her show.
 

1. Taylor Swift
 

@nyajohnsoon Do u think Ellen thrives off of making guest uncomfortable? #fypシ #taylorswift #swifttok #ellendegeneres #xyzbca #deservesbetter ♬ Night Trouble - Petit Biscuit

I only listen to about three Taylor Swift songs, but I will defend this woman all day long. Much like the rest of the world, DeGeneres loved to jump on-board the shame train when it came to Swift and her romantic life, in a way they never would do to a man.

DeGeneres wasn’t the only person to speculate, but her insistence on a bit that leaves Swift so uncomfortable it looks like she’s almost in tears is hard to watch. Leave Swift alone.
 

2. NikkieTutorials

Beauty YouTuber, NikkieTutorials, was invited on the show after being forced to come out to her followers as a trans woman due to threats she was receiving to out her without permission.

While the interview itself went fine, NikkieTutorials later slammed DeGeneres for the terrible treatment she received backstage.

She described the host as “distant and cold” while speaking with Dutch publication &C.

She went on to detail that instead of a warm welcome she was only “greeted by an angry intern who was a bit overworked”, and how she “was not allowed to use the nearest toilet, because it was reserved for the Jonas Brothers”. Instead, in a clear show of how she was valued as a guest, she was sent to the public bathrooms.
 

3. Mariah Carey

Carey appeared on the show in 2008, and DeGeneres used the interview to push her to announce her pregnancy.

At first, DeGeneres simply pointed out that there were pregnancy rumours going around, but when Carey replied “don’t discuss that”, DeGeneres tried to force Carey to out herself by toasting to not being pregnant with champagne.

The whole thing is very cringe worthy, and the fact that Carey miscarried not long after the interview is just yet another example of why commenting on a woman’s body around pregnancy is never OK.

After toxic workplace allegations came out, Carey said in an interview with Vulture that “I was extremely uncomfortable with that moment is all I can say. And I really have had a hard time grappling with the aftermath.”
 

4. Dakota Johnson
 

This clip went viral, as people praised Dakota Johnson for sticking up for herself when DeGeneres tried to frame her as the bad guy on air.

In fact, this clip essentially started the spiral of people sharing their allegations of a toxic work culture, so Johnson really opened the way for less famous people to speak up.
 

5. Hasan Minhaj

As someone with a name that literally no one can pronounce, I totally get that some names you haven’t come across before can be difficult to say – so you ask for the correction, you correct your mistake and everyone moves on (ideally).

However, when you’re the host of one the biggest talk shows in America, it’s kind of important to learn how to say your guest’s names — if not for professionalism, then at least to be respectful.

Not only did stand-up comedian and political commentator Hasan Minhaj have to teach DeGeneres how to correctly pronounce his name during his interview, she continued to mockingly mispronounce it several times.

Minhaj was a total champ about it; laughing it off, wondering out loud why people could learn complicated names of white celebrities (side note: it’s racism), and even responding to a question asking what he did at Starbucks with, “I just go by Timothée Chalamet.”
 

6. Lea Thompson

After the staff allegations of a toxic workplace came out, Back To The Future actor Lea Thompson responded on Twitter to an article by People in which Everybody Love Raymond actor, Brad Garrett, claimed that the toxicity was “common knowledge” and that he knew “more than one who were treated horribly by her”.

Thompson never went into detail, but her two word response makes it pretty clear that something went down: “True story. It is”.