Star reveals why she refused to go on The Ellen show

Опубликованно 31.08.2020 02:44

Amid a disastrous PR storm that has engulfed 62-year-old Ellen this year, with allegations she is “mean” and the culture at her long-running show is toxic, O’Donnell admitted she felt sorry for the star.

“You can’t fake your essence,” O’Donnell told Busy Phillips on her podcast Busy Philipps Is Doing Her Best.

“That’s why I have compassion for Ellen, right? I have compassion, even though, you know, I hear the stories and I understand. I think she has some social awkwardness.”

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US comedian Rosie O'Donnell. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

Ellen DeGeneres is suffering a career setback. Picture: Instagram

O’Donnell, 58, who used to have her own talk show The Rosie O’Donnell Show from 1996 to 2002, further revealed why she had never appeared as a guest on The Ellen Show.

“You know how Ellen surprises everyone?” she said, “I’ve never done that show because I’m terrified she’s going to scare me and give me a heart attack.”

It comes as an internal investigation by WarnerMedia continues into a series of shocking allegations by past and current employees who described a “toxic work environment” with a culture of “racism, fear and intimidation”. They also claimed there was widespread sexual misconduct among the top executives at the show.

Executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman were sacked from the show earlier this month, with the investigation ongoing.

DeGeneres is set to return to work for Season 18 of her talk show in September.

RELATED: A timeline of Ellen DeGeneres’ year from hell

Katy Perry is one of the many celebrities who have come to Ellen’s defence. Picture: YouTube

Locally Channel 9 pulled The Ellen DeGeneres Show from its schedule. The network, which was airing repeats of the talk show from noon each day, has replaced it with Desperate Housewives.

“We are resting Ellen repeats on Nine and have replaced with Desperate Housewives,” a spokesperson confirmed to news.com.au.

However, the spokesperson denied the show had been “axed”.

“Nine haven’t axed anything – we have been playing repeats on Nine which will continue on 9Gem. Discussions are ongoing regarding the new series.”

Категория: Блоги