What happened to Ellen DeGeneres? From her 2020 downfall to an unsuccessful comeback

If notes app and front-facing camera apologies are the hallmark of a 2020s downfall, then Netflix specials are the hallmark of a 2020s attempted comeback. Just ask Ellen DeGeneres, who made a brief return to fame this week with her new Netflix special, Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval.

It has not gone down well. One cursory look at the reviews could tell you that. “Ellen DeGeneres Is Unapologetic, Unrelatable and Totally Insufferable in Her New Netflix Special,” says Cracked. “Ellen DeGeneres’ Unfunny Netflix Special Leaves So Much Unsaid,” writes TIME. “Ellen DeGeneres Lets Herself Off the Hook in Self-Indulgent Netflix Special,” agrees Variety.

Bullying rumours trigger Ellen’s downfall

Ellen Degeneres (Michael Rozman/PA)

PA Media

Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval comes two years and four months after the last episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show was aired on May 26, 2022.

The hugely popular daytime TV chat show ran for 19 seasons and over 3,000 episodes. Then, in 2020, Ellen was repeatedly accused of bullying, with former staff claiming that she created a “toxic” work environment behind the scenes.

A celebrity being a d***head off camera? Well, that’s nothing new. But this was a direct contrast to Ellen’s sunny on-screen persona and the “Be Kind” mantra she preached so devotedly.

It started after comedian Kevin T. Porter tweeted in March of 2020 asking for people’s bad experiences with Ellen, who he called “notoriously one of the meanest people alive”. The original tweet amassed 70,000 likes, getting the discourse ball well and truly rolling.

The pandemic makes Ellen look even worse

Then, when the pandemic properly hit, Variety reported that staff on The Ellen DeGeneres Show were told nothing “about the status of their working hours, pay, or inquiries about their mental and physical health from producers for over a month.” DeGeneres later hired a different, non-unionised crew to film the show while she recorded it at home, stoking the fire even more.

She was also one of the many celebrities to come across badly amid the coronavirus lockdown, having complained that being in lockdown was like “being in jail” (she was quarantining in a multi-million dollar property in Hollywood, one of her four properties at the time).

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Buzzfeed then published a report alleging that Ellen and some of her senior producers fostered a toxic workplace full of racism, intimidation, and fear. The Ellen Degeneres Show was placed under internal investigation by WarnerMedia. DeGeneres apologised to staff.

Then another report was published by BuzzFeed, this time accusing senior Ellen producers of “harassment, sexual misconduct, and assault.” Several staff changes were made, Ellen apologised again to her staff and then later apologised on-screen to cameras and a live audience.

The show outlived the controversy, continuing to film and air episodes for nearly two more years, but Ellen never really shook off the reputational damage. In the final episode on May 26, 2022, she told viewers in her closing remarks: “Compassion is what makes the world a better place. Thank you so much for being on this journey with me. I feel the love, and I send it back to you. Goodbye.”

Ellen returns with a Netflix special

Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval

Netflix

Now, Ellen is back with a Netflix special, which she insists isn’t a comeback. In a post promoting the special on Facebook (of all places), she wrote: “To answer the questions everyone is asking me — Yes, I’m going to talk about it. Yes this is my last special. Yes, Portia really is that pretty in real life.”

So what actually happens in this special, and does she address the elephant in the room? The answer is yes, but, as TIME puts it, “not in an especially revelatory or introspective or satisfying way.”

DeGeneres summarises the incident very simplistically, then tells the audience that her The Ellen DeGeneres staff were “like a family”, and that many of them came out and accepted new sexualities while working on the show (there’s a rather obvious correlation or causation issue here, but she doesn’t mention it).

Ellen details her experience with attention deficit disorder and OCD, and admits, “I was a very immature boss. Because I didn’t want to be a boss.”

She eludes to her cancellation being a feminist issue, saying: “We have all these unwritten rules, based on gender, of acceptable behavior.” Her declaration of “I’m a strong woman”, is met with enthusiastic applause. It is less of a comedy special, really, and more of a high-production value, feature length apology film with an audience who appear to agree with everything she says.

But one audience doesn’t speak for everyone, and as the reviews are showing — not everyone is buying it.

Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval is streaming now on Netflix