Is Ellen DeGeneres mean? These celebrities sure think so

Ellen DeGeneres has been branded a “mean” person – an attribute that seriously compromises the kind & charitable image the talk show host has cultivated over the years. While the staff on The Ellen DeGeneres Show have come forward about the effects of Ellen’s bad behavior, some celebrities are speaking out also. 

On The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Ellen’s interactions with her celebrity guests typically give the impression that they’re the best of friends. However, several celebrities have broken their silence and backed up the claims of Ellen’s mean personality whether they experienced it first hand or witnessed the poor treatment of Ellen’s staff. Here are the celebrities who have exposed Ellen DeGeneres for being mean. 

NikkieTutorials

Anyone who doesn’t recognize the moniker NikkieTutorials hasn’t spent much time on YouTube. NikkieTutorials is a multi-talented makeup artist who has over thirteen million subscribers. Typically YouTube stars don’t get an abundance of mainstream recognition but it seemed for once, a YouTube personality was getting a little credit when NikkieTutorials was invited to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great experience for Nikkie from her description of her time on The Ellen DeGeneres Show: “”Call me naive, but I kind of expected to be welcomed with confetti cannons: “Welcome to The Ellen DeGeneres Show!’ But instead I was greeted by an angry intern who was a bit overworked. I was expecting a Disney show but got Teletubbies After Dark.”

Kathy Griffin

Kathy Griffin has never been a comedian to sugarcoat her distaste for anyone else. In 2018 Kathy had a fight with Ellen over the latter’s refusal to do a tribute to Joan Rivers after her death. Kathy Griffin appealed to Ellen as a female comic to honor the memory of the female comedic legend. 

The irony of Ellen’s response hits hard as she refused to do the tribute because River’s comedy had been mean-spirited and Ellen stated, “there’s a difference between mean and funny.” Kathy Griffin, who had always disliked Ellen’s treatment of Joan Rivers, was furious, claiming she tossed some biting words back at Ellen – along the lines of “Look you f—ing untalented hack.” 

Brad Garrett

The fallout of Ellen’s mean personality reveal has brought a few celebrities to the front as they back the claims of Ellen’s staff. Brad Garrett, well-known for his role as Robert on Everybody Loves Raymond, confirmed that the rumors about Ellen’s distasteful behavior were true. 

Brad appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show six times from 2004 to 2007 and in a tweet he wrote, “Sorry but it comes from the top ⁦@TheEllenShow. Know more than one who was treated horribly by her.⁩ Common knowledge.” Garrett’s statement lines up with the staff of The Ellen DeGeneres Show’s claims that the show fostered an environment of fear & intimidation. 

Lea Thompson

Lea Thompson is best known to us as Marty’s mom in Back to the Future. It seems Lea knows a little bit about Ellen’s mean streak as she backed up Brad Garrett’s tweet calling out Ellen. Lea replied with a simple “True story. It is.” 

Kevin T. Porter

Another round of comedian versus comedian saw Kevin T. Porter come hard for Ellen in a viral Twitter thread. Kevin tweeted that the world needed a little kindness “like Ellen DeGeneres always talks about”. Kevin asked for people to tweet stories about their experience with Ellen DeGeneres being mean in exchange for donations to a food bank. 

Kevin received over 2,000 responses – some more credible than others – and he kept his word by making a donation to a local food bank. Kevin’s Twitter thread quickly went viral and displayed some shocking stories that showcased Ellen’s borderline abusive behavior towards the people that work under her.