Back in 2020, Ellen DeGeneres found herself at the center of a surprising scandal.
Ellen stood accused of creating a hostile workplace, in which employees were mistreated, overworked, and pitted against one another in a hellishly competitive environment.
Shortly after the allegations became public, Ellen’s talk show came to an end after a run of 19 years.
The embattled comic laid low for a while after hosting her final episode.
But now she’s returned to her roots with a new standup tour.
The tour kicked off with a show in West Hollywood Wednesday night, and as expected, Ellen made some candid comments about the scandal that ended her TV career (at least for now).
Ellen DeGeneres Tells Audience She Was ‘Kicked Out of Show Business’
“What else can I tell you? Oh yeah, I got kicked out of show business,” DeGeneres told the sold-out crowd during the show, according to Rolling Stone.
“There’s no mean people in show business,” she added, with more than a trace of sarcasm.
From there, Ellen poked fun at the gap between her public image and the way she was described by her former employees.
As you may recall, Ellen used to end her show by urging viewers to “be kind to each other” — words of wisdom she allegedly failed to live by in her interactions with her staff.
“The ‘be kind’ girl wasn’t kind,” she joked on stage this week.
“I became this one-dimensional character who gave stuff away and danced up steps. Do you know how hard it is to dance up steps?” the comic continued.
“Would a mean person dance up steps? Had I ended my show by saying, ‘Go f–k yourself,’ people would’ve been pleasantly surprised.”
Ellen later addressed the scandal in a more serious fashion, explaining to the audience that she was a boss who “didn’t know how to be a boss” despite being the face of the show.
“I didn’t go to business school. I went to Charlie’s Chuckle Hutt,” she joked.
“The show was called Ellen and everybody was wearing T-shirts that said ‘Ellen’ and there were buildings on the Warner Brothers lot that said ‘Ellen,’ but I don’t know that that meant I should be in charge.”
It might not be the apology that some of Ellen’s former staffers were hoping for.
But it seems the former daytime host is aware that she messed up — and she deserves credit for admitting it publicly.