Cancel culture sidelined Ellen DeGeneres before the term even entered pop culture. Back in 1997, she had the gall to take a popular sitcom and “use it” as a platform to come out as gay. Historically, the word gay meant happy, but the public consensus, as measured by Nielsen ratings (and ABC executives) was that gay was not funny.[1] (Will Truman and Jack McFarland had yet to be conceived.) The show was axed after five seasons in May 1998. (Will & Grace would premiere four months later.)
Ellen DeGeneres was exiled to Siberia or at least somewhere north of the Hollywood Hills.
Remarkably, she found her way back. A talk show. She didn’t step back in the closet. She remained open as a lesbian and even frequently mentioned her partner, Portia de Rossi. Ellen was accepted as fun and funny again. She was harmless, doing goofy little dances, filming her staff getting spooked in haunted houses and occasionally scaring guests as people and things popped out mid-interview. Mostly, she was lite and likable, a lovely afternoon accompaniment to getting a dinner casserole ready or stretching before hitting the gym. Her show ran for nineteen seasons, from 2003-2022, and seemingly could have gone on in perpetuity…or until Ellen chose to settle for good in somewhere like Palm Springs or another destination far warmer than Siberia.
But she got cancelled again. As a show, as a person.
Ostensibly, it was Ellen’s decision. She’d certainly done her time. But the public had turned on her once again. In 2020, there were allegations that the set for the talk show was a toxic work environment. Producers—not Ellen—were accused of harassment and racist comments. Three producers were fired after an investigation. But, as so often is the case, the person at the helm, got taken down, too.
Ellen, it would seem, was a tempting target for any negative views from past employees and guests. She’d been portrayed as the Queen of Nice and, at some point, began ending each episode with the remark, “Be kind to one another.” What I viewed as earnest, others viewed as self-righteous. Many don’t take kindly to being told how to behave by rich, pampered Hollywood elites. Media salivated over the chance to bring down a celebrity who called for kindness.
According to an article in The Guardian summarizing Ellen’s pierced persona, a Dutch YouTube media influencer complained that, as a guest on the show, she couldn’t use the closest restroom because it was designated for the Jonas Brothers and claimed Ellen was “cold” off-camera. (Tell me this isn’t the media trying desperately to make or draw out a story.) The takedown of Ellen also included an oft-played 2019 talk show clip where Ellen extended belated birthday wishes to Dakota Johnson and Ellen said she hadn’t been invited to Johnson’s party though, in fact, she had. (Ooh! Burn!)
Ellen’s ratings dropped and, after its end, she disappeared from the public eye again.
She’s back, allegedly for a final farewell on her terms, with a Netflix stand-up special, Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval. The show apparently premiered a few weeks ago, but I’ve been in Europe and streaming networks were not on my radar while away. I was home on Saturday night, jetlagged and not having enough energy to read a book so I opened my laptop, landed on Netflix and clicked on the special. Easy viewing. Sometimes when I am too tired, I cannot even process jokes. Laughing veers on being painful. But I maintained a steady giggle throughout the hourlong show.
Setting aside allegations she was a Mean Queen instead of the Queen of Kind, the break in time from seeing Ellen in the public eye was in her favor for myself as a viewer. Her humor is lite. It focuses on everyday minutia. I especially liked and related to parts of the routine that focused on parallel parking and car features that are unhelpful or which she will never use. Bits about chickens and pigeons also had me laughing. Ellen’s timing was impeccable and she displayed a knack for physical humor I hadn’t realized was one of her strengths.
Reviews haven’t been as favorable. In her stand-up, Ellen mentions her downfalls (first, from her sitcom, then her talk show). She talks of being labeled the Most Hated Person in America and acknowledges she wasn’t the best boss. Since she raises the subject—how could she not?—the critics swooped in, asserting her representation of the problems on the set failed to take responsibility for her own wrongdoings. For this, the reviews seem to give the special a thumbs down.
For me, I just wanted to laugh. I wanted to be reminded of the fact that Ellen DeGeneres possesses a cheeky, lite comic delivery, more akin to Jerry Seinfeld than Dave Chappelle. She speaks of mundane quirks in life rather than taking deep cultural fissures and commenting on them with any degree of satirical or scorching sense of humor. In terms of employment issues related to her talk show, she touches on them, but I never expected an emotional mea culpa. Any reckoning most likely came through employment grievances and settled litigation. Not my domain as a general member of the public. Not the domain of this stand-up special. I feel she’s paid for any wrongs in non-financial ways as well with the demise of her show and a damaged reputation that has clearly continued from the end of the show in 2022 until now. She may have “done time” but, to critics, she’s done.
I took Ellen’s stand-up at face value. She made me laugh from the beginning of her routine. I wondered if she could sustain the funny for a full hour which is a real challenge for anything in the comedic realm. Can a schtick be sustained? There were, to be sure, some gaps between giggles, but I was into the routine to the end. The fact I watched the full show while exhausted and still laughed aplenty means it was a success to me. Bravo, Ellen.
I am neither judge nor jury regarding Ellen’s culpability pertaining to a purportedly toxic work environment. Anyone allegedly aggrieved has had avenues of recourse. I truly hope there have been satisfactory remedies in terms of compensation, expressions of remorse and other ways of attempting to make things right.
I remain an Ellen fan. Should this not be her final act, I would tune in again. Most likely, I’d respond positively to the jokes again. Her humor fits with mine, even if it might be trendier to dismiss her for pitching softballs. Sometimes that’s exactly what I need.
I will always have a degree of admiration and appreciation for Ellen DeGeneres. Her very public coming out, for her character on Ellen and for herself as the cover story for Time magazine did wonders to make being gay easier. She was a household name at the time. Many queer folks were still closeted in all or in parts of their lives (e.g., at work). As noted in the same article in The Guardian, “According to a 2015 poll, Ellen did more to influence Americans’ attitudes about gay rights than any other celebrity or public figure.” It helped that neither Ellen the person nor Ellen the comic was known for being edgy. She was unassuming, likable and relatable. Some of the criticisms I’ve read once again in preparing to write this essay point out she’s rich and, in some respects, an out of touch celebrity. At a point while doing her talk show, she was reportedly earning fifty million per year. Of course, she’s going to be somewhat out of touch. Her life is not like mine in many ways. The same could be said for almost any comic who commands a Netflix special.
Ellen admits in For Your Approval she continues to care what people think. For me, at least, I still like her.
[1] The specific coming out episode drew high ratings, but the show’s popularity dropped off significantly the following season. Many, including myself to a degree, felt the subsequent episodes were less funny as writers tried to include gay storylines. We know gay topics are funny, but it seemed the show felt a burden in representing gayness to an audience that may not have known neighbors, co-workers and family members who identified as queer. The tone was sometimes a little too serious for a sitcom.
