Comedian Donated to a Food Bank in Exchange for Stories About Ellen DeGeneres Being Mean — and the Tweets Came Flooding In
Ellen DeGeneres is the very popular talk show host of the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Many know–and love–DeGeneres for the fact that she consistently tells her audience this good advice: “be kind.” However, many tweeters recently shared anecdotal evidence that DeGeneres herself isn’t nice at all. This was the result of a comedian tweeting out a request for stories about DeGeneres being mean. In return, he would donate money to the Los Angeles food bank.
Comedian and podcast host Kevin T. Porter tweets request for mean DeGeneres stories
Kevin T. Porter is a comedian. He also created (and co-hosts) the following successful podcasts: Good Christian Fun, Maisel Goys and Gilmore Guys. Porter recently caused a bit of drama on Twitter by calling Ellen DeGeneres “notoriously one of the meanest people alive.” His tweet in full:
Right now we all need a little kindness. You know, like Ellen Degeneres always talks about! She’s also notoriously one of the meanest people alive. Respond to this with the most insane stories you’ve heard about Ellen being mean & I’ll match every one w/ $2 to @LAFoodBank.
The tweet received over 2,000 comments. Sure, not all of the responses were negative stories about DeGeneres. Some tweeters were critical of Porter’s request. However, several people added (seemingly credible) anecdotes to the Twitter thread.
Writer Chase Mitchell chimed in, claiming of DeGeneres: “Comic I know became friendly with her, said she openly expressed her deep disdain for her audience and her own show – resents it all!”
One commenter wrote:
Heard recently that Ellen, the supposed animal lover, has a bad habit of adopting really cute kittens and puppies but as they get older she’ll get tired of them and force friends, family or staff to adopt them.
Other replies were anecdotes of interactions with DeGeneres at the Warner Brothers lot, where she shoots her talk show. One WB employee tweeted:
She had her private security stopping WB employees from crossing the street from the WB lot to the Gate 3 parking structure. She did this so she could make a left hand turn through our crosswalk without having to wait for us first.
Employees of The Ellen DeGeneres Show share ‘toxic’ working conditions with the talk show host
One commenter remarked on the Twitter thread that they were “prepared to come here to defend Ellen’s honor.” But then: “read a bunch of legitimate sounding encounters from seemingly credible sources, rethinking my entire existence now.”
Someone then replied to that comment about how common it is in Los Angeles to hear negative stories about Ellen DeGeneres. They tweeted:
In Hollywood, there are individuals or groups gossiping, and then there are things you hear from everybody that usually turn out true. This is one of those things you hear from everybody.
Many stories in the replies came from experiences working on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. One rough story for DeGeneres came from this tweet:
My sister worked for the Ellen Show for two years. This is from her: ‘I saw Ellen in the hallways every day and would say hello and she never once said hello back. She wouldn’t smile. She wouldn’t even acknowledge me at all. For two seasons.’
Another former staffer remembered:
Working for her, I was instructed that I can’t look her in the eye and never ever say hi to her first. ‘But don’t worry, she definitely won’t be saying hi to you in the first place.’ She creates the most toxic environment for her staff.
One former Ellen DeGeneres Show employee, Greg Fitzsimmons, cited an “NDA” as the reason he wouldn’t share specifics in the comments. But he did have one thing to share.
“It’s all behind me now,” Fitzsimmons tweeted. “Thank God.”
Porter donates $600 to local food bank after thousands of comments about Ellen DeGeneres
After all was said and done, Porter ended up donating hundreds of dollars to the food bank–a resource which is essential to many families, especially during a global pandemic.
“Well this got out of hand!” the comedian wrote. “It’s now hard to tell which stories are real or not, so I’ve rounded up to 300 and donated $600!”
Porter concluded his thoughts by encouraging his followers to donate to food banks. He also said: “be kind, especially to those in the most vulnerable positions right now.” However, Porter clarified: don’t be Ellen DeGeneres kind.
“Be TRULY kind,” the podcast host tweeted. “Don’t settle for a cheap imitation.”
