Ellen DeGeneres slammed by comic icon who says 'creepy and weird' talk-show star was 'not nice' to them
A veteran comedian is weighing in on their interactions with Ellen DeGeneres in an unfiltered and unflattering account.
Ellen was a titan of daytime TV for nearly two decades before her talk show ended in 2022 amid a torrent of allegations about its 'toxic' work environment.
The 67-year-old Presidential Medal of Freedom winner has since maintained that she was 'kicked out of show business' for being 'mean.'
Now Ellen, whose public persona was founded on her image as the 'Queen of Nice,' has seen her kindness brought into question yet again, this time by the comedian Margaret Cho.
'Ellen was like really weird and not nice to me for most of my career,' Margaret, 56, alleged during an appearance on The Kelly Mantle Show.
DailyMail.com has contacted Ellen's representatives for comment but hasn't heard back yet.
Margaret remarked that their connection went back to when they were both rising comedians, before Ellen achieved nationwide prominence in the late-1980s thanks to a successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
'I opened for her in the 1980s when she was a headliner in comedy clubs and not – way, way before her big fame,' Margaret remembered.
'So then, when I would do later, when I would do her talk show in the 2000s, she acted like we just met. And I'm like: 'B****, what?'... Like, that's weird. We go way back,' she said, calling Ellen's conduct 'creepy and weird.'
She then alleged that when David Bowie made an appearance on Ellen's show, 'he was so excited that, the night before, that I had come to his show wearing this giant Chinese emperor outfit.'
Margaret stated: 'He was really thrilled about it and he talked at length about it, and she cut it out of the show, which made me so mad.'
She claimed the 'producer, which was a really good friend of mine, had to call me and tell me: 'I can't believe she did this but she cut it out of the show, but you need to know that he was going on and on about your outfit. He loves you. God said your name.''
Margaret took the view that Ellen's decision to delete the footage was 'so rude,' although she acknowledged: 'I don't know if it was personal. Maybe it was for time. But still, I'm gonna take it personally, just 'cause I decided to.'
After Ellen's show ended in 2022 in a maelstrom of controversy about the backstage treatment of staff, she largely withdrew from the spotlight.
She and her wife Portia de Rossi led a mainly private life in Montecito, a Santa Barbara enclave that is also home to such celebrities as Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry and Megan Markle and Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom.
Last year she staged a comeback, going on tour with an act called Ellen's Last Stand...Up, which was filmed as the Netflix special For Your Approval.
While promoting her tour, she addressed the scandal that had overshadowed her career, saying she was 'kicked out of show business' for being 'mean.'
She recalled: 'The hate went on for a long time and I would try to avoid looking at the news. The "be kind" girl wasn't kind. That was the headline,' via Rolling Stone.
Sarcastically saying there are 'no mean people in show business,' she noted: 'I became this one-dimensional character who gave stuff away and danced up steps.'
Ellen joked: 'Do you know how hard it is to dance up steps? Would a mean person dance up steps? Had I ended my show by saying: "Go f*** yourself," people would've been pleasantly surprised.'
She confessed she 'didn't know how to be a boss' and pointed out she learned to practice her profession at 'Charlie's Chuckle Hut' rather than at business school.
'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,' she observed.
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