Ellen DeGeneres 'Tone-Deaf' Apology Leads to High Ratings
Ellen DeGeneres kicked off her namesake show's season premiere in full bravery addressing the left and right accusations thrown at her for the past few months. The same bubbly Ellen came to the show and spoke about the toxic work culture and fake accusations with some humorous banter.
But instead of laughing back at her attempts to lighten up the drama, staff are reportedly not impressed with how the 62-year-old host made fun of the struggles they experienced on the show.
Insulting Remarks
Speaking to BuzzFeed, the employees open up about how they felt with Ellen's apology mixed with sarcasm and comedy.
"Not only did Ellen turn my trauma, turn our traumas into a joke, she somehow managed to make this about her," an ex-employee said.
Some even felt insulted by Ellen's "inappropriate jokes" during her opening monologue, considering that some accusation includes sexual misconduct.
"When you're talking about people who have accused her leadership of the seriousness of sexual misconduct, I don't think it's appropriate to have jokes in the monologue," another former staffer said.
Apart from joking about how great her summer went, the award-winning host humorously warned the audience not to use the "be kind" branding as it could bounce back in the future. This particular joke didn't sit well with some staff who experienced her unkind treatment behind the camera.
One former employee said that he doesn't feel any empathy for Ellen and what she is going through right now as she is the one who branded herself to be the "be kind lady."
"She's acting like it was something she said in passing that just stuck with her. It's not something that stuck with her; it's not an accident," the ex-staff said.
"She went forward with this idea and this marketing strategy that was not true behind the scenes," he added.
The ex-staff argued that nothing wrong is being tagged as the "be kind lady," as long as she acts like one in real-life.
Impressive Monologue?
While former employees are not satisfied with Ellen's apology, the current staff working for "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" seems impressed with her monologue. Sources also said that the 250 plus employees are also happy to be working again.
"To actually go from an environment where nothing is said, and everyone keeps their head down, to now when it's the topic of her first show back is pretty amazing," one staff told BuzzFeed.
Let the Rating Talk
Despite the dissatisfaction and criticisms with Ellen's apology and double meaning-filled jokes, it looks like the odds are still on her favor as the controversial episode performed well in the ratings.
New York Post reported that Season 18 premiere posted an overnight Nielsen household rating of 1.9 and ranked no.1 in demographics of adults aged 25 to 54.
"The Ellen DeGeneres Show" also posed a 0.9 rating, which is higher than last year's pilot episode with 0.8. The show also got a 0.6 rating from in-demand demographics of female viewers ages 18 to 34.
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