Ellen accused of being a ‘phoney’ as she axes chat show amid bullying claims

Ellen DeGeneres has been branded a "phoney" who fans "won’t forgive" as she took the decision to cancel her iconic chat show.

Ellen declined to renew her contract for the show after more than 3,000 episodes.

The Ellen host has been hit with numerous bullying claims over the years from people working on set as well as her celebrity guests.

The controversy kicked off last year as comedian Kevin T. Porter asked for charity donations in exchange for negative stories about the host on Twitter.

In a Buzzfeed article detailing stories from former employees, Ellen was accused of creating an environment riddled with racism, microaggressions and behind-the-scenes harassment from producers.

Ellen issued a public apology as an investigation was launched to look into the allegations, but some viewers branded her "insincere".

But in a scathing Mail Online column, journalist Dan Wootton has insisted fans will find it difficult to forgive Ellen.

He labelled her "carefully crafted" on-screen persona "a complete myth", elaborating that Ellen’s apparent fakery was the reason for her falling ratings.

"Her downfall is a lesson to all TV celebrities: Just be yourself. Stop selling a fake image of perfection to the public because when you’re found out they won’t forgive you, as the plummeting ratings for Ellen’s show attest," Wootton wrote.

Though Ellen explained the reason for the show’s cancellation was that as a "creative person" she needed a new "challenge", Wootton insisted: There was no choice about whether to sashay off into the sunset.

"Viewers made the decision for Ellen […] Such a big money production would not have remained viable given the mass switch off."

This year, Ellen’s ratings plummeted by around 1.1million viewers – in March, Nielsen data showed that viewing figures had slipped from 2.6million to 1.5million.

Wootton explains that Ellen is not an "especially bad person", likening her to various other Hollywood divas and citing her $85million a year paycheck.

But he insists the best route to go down is to let the public in on your so-called "diva" moments, rather than putting on an eternal nice gal facade.

And Ellen’s persona did appear to slip once or twice while filming her show – she reduced Taylor Swift to tears as she quizzed her on ex-boyfriends, and slammed Celine Dion for opting not to cut her son’s hair.

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She even urged Mariah Carey to drink on the show to find out whether or not she was pregnant.

She’s also called out numerous audience members, including a cringe-inducing incident in which she branded one woman "not rich" after rifling through her bag.

"So this is all you have right now in cash?" Ellen asked. "Alright, well that’s not rich."

Though Ellen did gift her $1,000 during the segment, when the woman asked for a hug she snapped: "No, that’s all. There, you’re rich now."

  • Hollywood
  • Ellen DeGeneres

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