Ellen DeGeneres 'Queen Of Mean': 7 SHOCKING Controversies About the Host You May Not Know
"Queen of Mean" Ellen DeGeneres is known for asking her fans and viewers to "be kind" to each other.
She has been considered a beloved star because of her funny and public demeanor.
But the talk show host has her fair share of controversy in the past couple of years.
Rumors of the 62-year-old's lack of empathy have followed her since the beginning of her career, but it only reached fever pitch this year.
Here are some of Ellen DeGeneres' most controversial moments in the past few years that you probably didn't know about.
Coming Out as Gay
Ellen DeGeneres came out as gay in her TV sitcom "Ellen," followed by a TIME magazine headline, "Yep, I'm gay."
A lot of resentment accompanied her coming out, with a couple of TV stations around the US refused to show that specific episode.
Other people also threatened co-stars of DeGeneres on the sitcom for starring alongside her.
At that time, DeGeneres urged everyone to stop being so fascinated with her sexuality, saying, "I understand the curiosity, and I understand the not understand of it. But let's get beyond this, and let me get back to what I do."
Feud with Kathy Griffin
Kathy Griffin opened up about her feud with Ellen DeGeneres in 2018, explaining that it all started from a talk that they had after the death of Joan Rivers in 2014.
Speaking to Variety, "One of the things that really hurt Joan, and we talked about it at our last meal together, was that Ellen always shunned her, and Ellen thought she was vulgar and funny."
She added, "I just called her, and I just said, 'Look, woman to woman, comic to comic, I think you need to let go of your hatred for Joan Rivers. She passed away, do a tribute, be cool.'"
It was reportedly the talk show host's response that got their feud going, with Ellen DeGeneres telling Griffin, "There's a difference between mean and funny."
JC Penney Endorsement
DeGeneres used to work for JC Penny before landing her TV sitcom.
When JC Penny and DeGeneres' partnership revealed in 2016, pro-family advocacy group One Million Moms threatened to boycott the retail chain after appointing the Emmy award-winning host as its spokesperson.
One Million Moms called for DeGeneres to be replaced because she is a lesbian.
At that time, the group wrote to its website, "Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families."
They even called DeGeneres, "not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store."
In the end, JC Penney stood behind DeGeneres and didn't replace her as the spokesperson.
Very Aggressive
Bachelor star Corrine Olympios shared her experience on the show in 2017, saying that she felt uncomfortable because Ellen DeGeneres was "very aggressive."
She explained the particularly unnerving moment when she saw DeGeneres backstage, saying, "She was freezing when I saw her before the show, which I don't think I was supposed to because everybody got nervous when we bumped into each other."
Olympios added she saw how the staff were afraid and felt like they were going to get in a lot of trouble for that moment.
Support for Kevin Hart
Kevin Hart lost his 2019 Academy Awards hosting gig after saying homophobic comments in the past.
It was reported that one of the actor's controversial comments was a joke he made about his son Hendrix claiming, "If I can prevent my son from being gay, I will."
But after Hart was stripped of the hosting duties, he was invited by Ellen DeGeneres on her show in a public spectacle of forgiveness.
DeGeneres revealed how she contacted the Academy to ask them to give Hart his hosting duties back.
After that interview, social media users called DeGeneres a hypocrite and claimed she wasn't true for the LGBTQ advocate.
Racism
In 2016, Ellen DeGeneres landed in hot water for tweeting about Jamaican runner Usain Bolt.
The "Ellen" star posted a photoshopped picture of her riding on top of Bolt with the caption, "This is how I'm running errands from now on."
One Twitter user said at that time, "Despite its intentions, this pic has ugly connotations from a rich white lady."
Friendship with Former POTUS George W. Bush
In 2019, the "Queen of Mean" Ellen DeGeneres was pictured alongside former President Bush in a sports game.
Many didn't think she should even be associating with him because of his opposition to marriage equality and wars in the Middle East.
Ellen DeGeneres just smeared her sparkly brand and replaced it with mean and nasty undertones. Many people say that she will soon leave "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" because of all these controversies and more.
Only time can tell.
