Ellen DeGeneres Embarrassed a Guest on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ for Stealing
Those who’ve kept up with Ellen DeGeneres know she’s in hot water for what her staffers have said about working under her producers on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. And some folks claimed DeGeneres also isn’t the most genuine of show hosts.
Now, we’re looking back at some old interviews. And it seems there’s one incident with an audience member that some fans aren’t so sure should’ve happened. Here’s what went down and why fans are uncomfortable now.
Ellen DeGeneres is under fire after staffers slammed ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ production
DeGeneres was in for a rude awakening when staff from her talk show took to Buzzfeed to explain their negative experiences with production. According to some of the staff, the head producers participated in a toxic workplace culture. And those who worked for the show also allegedly would get into trouble when they tried to take days off for medical or bereavement reasons.
“If she wants to have her own show and have her name on the show title, she needs to be more involved to see what’s going on,” a former employee told Buzzfeed News. “I think the executive producers surround her and tell her, ‘Things are going great, everybody’s happy,’ and she just believes that, but it’s her responsibility to go beyond that.”
Since the allegations, DeGeneres has fired three of her head producers and promised to improve her workplace environment. But it’s certainly all had an effect on how fans feel.
DeGeneres once embarrassed a guest on her show for stealing
Now, many are looking back at old interviews and moments on The Ellen DeGeneres Show — and there are quite a few that don’t sit well with fans. A few years back on season 14, DeGeneres set up a hidden camera near a table of talk show swag for fans. DeGeneres put up a sign saying fans could take one item each — but the camera footage showed one fan taking way more than one piece of swag.
DeGeneres then called out the fan who took more than her fair share.
“You’re the kind of person, like when you go trick-or-treating and nobody’s home, you don’t just take … you take the bowl. You just walk away,” DeGeneres noted — and the audience laughed. “Sorry, that’s embarrassing. But let that be a lesson to you. You think nobody’s watching you, and you just need to be a good person.” DeGeneres then instructed the fan to sit in “Ellen jail” to the side of the stage.
As for why the fan took more merchandise than instructed, she said her sister couldn’t attend the show and she wanted to bring back memorabilia. To that, DeGeneres noted, “A lot of peoples’ sisters couldn’t come.”
Fans think DeGeneres went too far
The audience member who took more than her share seemed to laugh off the incident, but many fans didn’t feel too comfortable with how far DeGeneres’ jokes went. They took to the comments of the video to express their disappointment.
“Wow, that’s gross,” one fan commented. “So basically she set this entire thing up, just so she’d find someone that stole, just so she could publicly humiliate and bully them while she sadistically smiles. This is sadism. She’s happy, she orchestrated this entire thing. It’s gross. Such a garbage person.”
“If that was me, I would be on the verge of tears and I’d probably leave to go cry instead of sitting on the chair,” another commented.
“The part that pisses me off is when she tells her she needs to be a good person,” another wrote. “I think a good person wouldn’t be humiliating an audience member on public television. Classless.”
We’re not sure if DeGeneres learned from this experience. But we’re hoping she keeps these comments in mind for the future.
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