Why 2020 has been the year of backlash against Ellen DeGeneres

• The talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres is known for her goofy, friendly, and charming persona on the air, but recent accusations by crew members and a guest on her show have led to a string of bad press.
• In late March, the Dutch beauty YouTuber Nikkie de Jager, who goes by NikkieTutorials, said during a talk show in her home country that DeGeneres had been "cold and distant" during de Jager's appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
• From there, a Twitter thread asking for stories about DeGeneres being "one of the meanest people alive" quickly spread, garnering more than 2,000 replies.
• And DeGeneres has also been accused by former crew members of not communicating with them about payment during the coronavirus shutdown.

The talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres has long been considered a beloved celebrity for her friendly and funny public demeanor. But in 2020, that all could change as complaints of inconsiderate behavior have popped up in recent news stories.

The Dutch beauty YouTuber Nikkie de Jager, also known as NikkieTutorials, was one of the first people to call out DeGeneres, saying on a talk show in her home country that the beloved host was "cold and distant" during de Jager's appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

In April, a Twitter thread asking for stories about DeGeneres being "one of the meanest people alive" was widely shared, garnering more than 2,000 replies of people describing uncomfortable or off-putting experiences with the host.

Crew members for "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" also spoke out this month, saying they had not received any communication from DeGeneres or show executives about their pay or working hours during the coronavirus pandemic.

With accusations of unkind or inconsiderate behavior swirling around the talk-show host, it can be hard to keep track of all the controversy. Below, we broke down all the backlash DeGeneres has received this year.

NikkieTutorials in February was one of the first people to speak out

The Dutch beauty vlogger first visited "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in January to discuss her experience as a transgender woman after coming out earlier that month.

But de Jager said during an appearance on the Dutch talk show "De Wereld Draait Door" in February that it hadn't been a completely positive experience for her.

"Let me say that there's a big difference between this show and Ellen DeGeneres, and I'm saying that in favor of this show," de Jager told the host Matthijs van Nieuwkerk, according to a translation by the YouTuber Sebastian Williams, a native Dutch speaker. "It's nice that you say 'hi' before the show. She didn't."

When van Nieuwkerk asked de Jager whether DeGeneres was "cold and distant," the beauty YouTuber agreed.

And on Thursday, another interview with de Jager came to light in which she expanded on her experience with DeGeneres and DeGeneres' show. De Jager reportedly told &C Magazine that the friendly, welcoming atmosphere portrayed to viewers wasn't the reality in the studio.

—Pop Crave (@PopCrave) April 16, 2020

"Maybe I'm being naive, but I expected them to welcome me with confetti: Welcome to 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show'!" she said in the interview seen by Pop Crave. "But instead I got greeted by an angry intern, who was a bit overworked. I expected a Disney show, but I got a 'Teletubbies' after dark."

According to de Jager, she didn't receive the same VIP treatment as other celebrity guests on the show, despite having millions of views on her YouTube videos.

"Every guest at Ellen had a private toilet, but I didn't," she said, referring to a bathroom. "I couldn't even use the closest toilet to me because it was reserved for the Jonas brothers."

In April, a Twitter thread asking for stories about DeGeneres being 'one of the meanest people alive' received more than 2,000 responses

A comedian named Kevin T. Porter crowdsourced "insane stories you've heard about Ellen being mean" in exchange for $2 donations to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank — and received thousands of responses.

—Kevin T. Porter (@KevinTPorter) March 20, 2020

While the accuracy of the stories is impossible to verify from tweets alone, news outlets including Insider picked up on the thread. One Twitter user accused DeGeneres of using her fan art as a prop, while another described her getting mad at a server with chipped nail polish who waited on the host and her wife, Portia, at brunch.

—Danielle Acevedo (@daniianita96) March 23, 2020

—Chris Farah (@ChrisLFarah) March 20, 2020

There were also stories about DeGeneres' behavior while filming, including accusations that she wouldn't let crew members eat meat, that she fired an autistic custodian for greeting her, and that she made anyone entering her office chew gum from a bowl outside her door since she had a "sensitive nose."

DeGeneres hasn't responded publicly to any of the accusations. A representative for the talk-show host didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment regarding this story.

—Alison Freer ✂️ (@AlisonVFreer) March 20, 2020

—Josh Levesque (@JoshBLevesque) March 20, 2020

—Benjamin Siemon (@BenjaminJS) March 20, 2020

The host also faced backlash after joking that self-isolating in her mansion was 'like being in jail'

On her April 6 show, DeGeneres compared self-isolating in her California mansion to being in prison — and Twitter users were quick to call out the talk-show host for what they felt was an insensitive remark.

"One thing I've learned from being in quarantine is that people — this is like being in jail, is what this is," DeGeneres said during the segment, adding, "It's mostly because I've been wearing the same clothes for 10 days, and everyone in here is gay."

DeGeneres seemed amused by her comparison, smiling and remarking, "The jokes that I have."

After DeGeneres shared the clip on Twitter, users were quick to call out the host for her remarks about prisons, especially during a time when prison inmates are at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Some pointed out that inmates in prisons were far more likely to die from the novel coronavirus than the larger population — especially wealthy people like DeGeneres.

—Mike Sington (@MikeSington) April 6, 2020

—itsagundam (@GundamIsHere) April 7, 2020

—blackness everdeen (@traceyecorder) April 7, 2020

—Rebecca Kavanagh (@DrRJKavanagh) April 8, 2020

In April, news broke that DeGeneres' crew was 'furious' about a lack of communication over their pay during the coronavirus shutdown

Variety cited two anonymous sources as saying that the long-running talk show's core stage crew — which consists of more than 30 employees — had not received any communication about the status of their working hours or pay and that producers had not checked in about their mental and physical health.

Furthermore, the report said crew members were left in the dark about how much they would be paid, or whether they would be paid at all, for more than two weeks.

DeGeneres' show has continued to air, with the host recording from her home in California, but Variety reported that only four members of the core crew were working on the show's lockdown edition, with a nonunion tech company being brought on to help as well.

And despite a statement from Warner Bros. Television saying the crew had been paid at a consistent rate (albeit at reduced hours), crew members are still said to be upset about a lack of personal care from the show — and feel the way they have been treated is not in keeping with DeGeneres' famous "be kind" advice.

Such reports are a stark contrast with other shows. Stage hands on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" were paid by the host Jimmy Kimmel himself during initial COVID-19 shutdowns, for example, and are now being paid their full rates by ABC after returning to the air remotely. "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" and "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee" have also been transparent in their communication with staff and crew and are paying full rates.

A former bodyguard for the host said his experience with her at the 2014 Oscars was 'kind of demeaning'

Tom Majercak was hired to protect DeGeneres, her mother, and her wife Portia de Rossi as they attended the 86th Academy awards, which DeGeneres was hosting.

But the bodyguard told Fox News in April that his experience with DeGeneres was less than ideal.

"I'm holding their hands and walking them through individuals and large groups of people. Ellen is the one person that I've been assigned to — and I've been assigned to quite a few celebrities — that has never taken the time to say hi to me," Majercak said.

According to the bodyguard, DeGeneres' wife de Rossi was "very pleasant" throughout the evening and "carried on a conversation," but things "started going negatively" when de Rossi introduced him to the talk show host.

"Ellen pretty much just gave me a side glance out of her eye and didn't even say 'hello,' or 'thank you for protecting my mother, my wife and me,'" Majercak told Fox News, adding, "It was very cold and it was very sly and it was actually kind of demeaning in the way that she treats people other than those who are in her circle."

A former producer for DeGeneres' show said that the host once called Steve Jobs to complain about the font size on iPhones

Speaking to the New York Post, the producer, who wasn't named in the Post's May 9 story, said the call to Jobs came after DeGeneres had lost her glasses, and couldn't read a text on her phone.

"She stopped everything and made a call. Next thing we know, we literally hear Steve Jobs pick up and say, 'Hi, Ellen' … Ellen told him the iPhone should have a bigger font," the producer said.

"That's her," the former producer continued. "It's not that she's some demon. She just lives in an incredibly privileged bubble and is out of touch with the real world."

In early July, the hashtag "#RIPEllen" began trending on Twitter — even though DeGeneres was alive and well

After speculation that DeGeneres' popular talk show was going to be canceled, some Twitter users reportedly took things further by spreading false news of DeGeneres' "death."

According to a story from the New York Post published on July 7, people on social media claimed the host had taken her own life in response to the impending "cancellation" of her show — even though the host was still very much alive.

Producers also confirmed with the Post that DeGeneres' show was not, in fact, going to be canceled.

But that didn't stop users from continuing to use the "#RIPEllen" hashtag in their tweets.

Some people shared photos of DeGeneres' celebrity lookalikes (including Jane Lynch's character from "Glee" and Katy Perry), along with their joking condolences for the talk show host. Others noted that the death hoax came after a turbulent past few months for DeGeneres.

In late July, an Australian radio host said he was instructed not to look at or talk to DeGeneres when working with her in 2013

During a segment on his radio show "4BC Breakfast" on July 28, Neil Breen said he worked as an executive producer on the Australian "Today" show at the time.

According to Breen, DeGeneres' involvement on the episode "got watered-down" from co-hosting to doing a sit-down interview in Melbourne, where Breen and his crew had to fly ("at our own expense") to tape the segment.

Australian TV presenter Richard Wilkins was set to interview DeGeneres, but Breen said that he and the rest of his team received a very specific set of rules when working with her.

"Because it's 'The Ellen Show,' they controlled everything," Breen explained. "They controlled the interview seats, the lights, how it would work, everything."

"The producers called us aside and said, 'This is how it's going to work here this morning. Ellen's going to arrive at 10:15, and she'll be sitting in this chair here. And Richard, you'll be sitting in this chair here,'" he continued.

According to Breen, DeGeneres' team told him, "Neil, no one's to talk to Ellen. You don't talk to her, you don't approach her, you don't look at her. She'll come in, she'll sit down, she'll talk to Richard, then Ellen will leave."

Breen said he found the whole thing "bizarre."

"I'm not blaming Ellen, because I didn't get to talk to her. I don't know whether she's a nice person or not. I wouldn't have a clue," he said. "But I can tell you, the people who worked with her walked on eggshells the whole time."

If you've had an experience with Ellen DeGeneres that you'd like to share on the record, please email ltorres@businessinsider.com.

• Read more:
• YouTuber NikkieTutorials called out Ellen DeGeneres in a Dutch TV interview after appearing on her show
• A comedian offered donations in exchange for stories about Ellen DeGeneres being 'one of the meanest people alive.' He got 2,000 replies.
• Ellen DeGeneres is facing backlash after comparing self-isolating in her mansion to being in prison
• Crew members on 'The Ellen Show' are reportedly furious at the lack of communication over pay during the coronavirus shutdown