We didn't expect [music] a development this big to drop on a random Monday night, but this Cat Williams allegations about Ellen are maybe the biggest [music] yet. There. There was always one question people in Hollywood didn't like to answer.
How did someone [music] who told the world to be kind end up being described behind the scenes as cold, strict, and even a little scary to work with? That question kept coming up whenever people talked about Ellen Degenerous. On camera, [music] she was all smiles, dancing, and laughter.
But off camera, the stories didn't always match. For nearly 20 years, she ruled daytime TV. The Ellen DeGeneres show became one of the biggest talk shows in America.
Celebrities lined up to be on it. Millions of people watched every day, and her message was simple. Be kind to one another.
But when the show suddenly ended, [music] the whispers got louder. People started asking what was really going on behind the scenes. And that's where this [music] starts to connect to what comedian Cat Williams has been warning about for Cat never played it safe.
While others stayed quiet to protect their careers, he spoke openly. He said, "Hollywood isn't what it looks like. According to him, it's deeply evil and messed up when the cameras are off.
At least if you in the ATL and aigger doing drugs in the ATL, the [ __ ] at least excuse himself. Go to the bathroom or some [ __ ] in Hollywood just do the drugs right in front of you and act like ain't [ __ ] happened. You in the middle of a goddamn meeting.
Yeah. So, what we're gonna do is we're going to do the movie with you and then we're gonna we're gonna go back. Did you know that I can see you?
[ __ ] you right there is on your nose. [ __ ] be gay in Hollywood. You never [ __ ] expected.
They be having these big ass mansion parties. And the mansion party, the whole mansion is a party and then it's a separate party in the little rooms. I ain't been famous that goddamn long.
I'm excited in a [ __ ] to be at the mansion party. You be looking in all the goddamn rooms and you [ __ ] around and look in the wrong room and [ __ ] Come here. Come here.
Is that two [ __ ] kissing? Is one of them [ __ ] Professor Obie? [cheering] He came out the closet.
He came out the closet. Oh my god. He claimed the smiles, the kindness, the perfect image, it's all part of the act.
So when stories about Ellen's workplace started coming out, a lot of people remembered what Cat had been saying and started looking at things differently. But Ellen didn't start at the top. She was born on January 26th, 1958 in Louisiana.
Before fame, she lived a normal life, working regular jobs and trying to figure things out. In the early 1980s, she started doing stand-up comedy in small clubs, performing late at night for small crowds. Then in 1986, [music] everything changed.
She appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. After her performance, Carson invited her to sit on the couch. Back then, that meant You made it.
[applause] This is a good night for a young comedian to appear because you're all in a great mood. Uh, this is her first appearance on network television, although she can be seen this month on HBO's Young Comedian Special, and she's working at the Improvisation in San Diego this weekend. She'll be at the San Francisco Punchline, the 3rd through the 6th of December, and at the Dallas Improv December the 9th through the 6th to 14th.
Would you welcome Ellen Degenerous. Ellen, [music] [music and applause] thank you. Hi.
Good. You feeling good? [applause] Me, too.
Feels great. I've been keeping in shape lately. You know, you have to.
I'm getting older. I'm 27. People say, "You don't look 27.
You look like you're about 23. " I'm lucky cuz that runs with my family. My grandmother is 97.
She looks about 93. Have a little nephew who's four. Doesn't even look like he's born yet.
Tiny embryo of a thing. That's good. That whole fitness thing runs in my family though.
I think that my grandmother started walking 5 miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where the hell she is. [applause] I'm kidding.
We know where she is. She's in prison. But I'm kidding again.
You know, I kid a lot cuz I'm a comedian. From there, her career took off. In the 1990s, she starred in her own sitcom, Ellen.
Then in 1997, she made a bold move. She told the world she was gay. At the time, that was a huge risk in Hollywood.
Soon after, her show was cancelled and some networks stepped away. For a moment, it looked like her career might be over, but she came back. In 2003, she launched the Ellen Degenerous show.
This time, she returned with a very clear image, someone positive, kind, and full of good energy. At the end of every episode, she repeated the same message. Be kind to one another.
That message became her brand. The show exploded. She filmed over 3,000 episodes, won dozens of awards, and became one of the most powerful names in television.
But behind the scenes, a different story was starting to form. Some former staff members began speaking out. They described the workplace as stressful and tense.
One early employee said they were told not to talk to Ellen or even look at her directly. People said they felt like they were always walking on eggshells. If you didn't pitch in her wheelhouse, then she looked at you like you had justing stabbed her puppy.
And then there was this process of pushing people out of the circle. And you know, you want to be in the circle cuz there's a lot of fear going on and you're you're in or out. So there's a lot of like it didn't really bother me that much cuz I'd written on a lot of shows before and I kind of knew what it was like to have tough bosses.
You know, I wrote for Bill Maher. Sure. And so like I was just like um tough enough but then I there was these first time writers uh who would they used to cry.
There was a lot of crying in the hallways. Wow. Yeah.
Just feels like it's not a good energy for a workplace or a show. I feel like you're getting less out of people by treating them like that. I think I think so.
Yeah. For sure. I think in the long run I think in the short run you might get more but in the long run people get exhausted you break them they can't and then you hit sweeps which is like you're working 12 14 hour days cuz it's like the the ratings months and and then nobody can nobody can give anything and you just hit you hit walls.
This former waitress claims she was threatened with a twoe suspension after Ellen DeGeneres complained about of all things her chipped fingernail polish. I remember just being like, "Really? " Chris Farah says it happened when Ellen and Porsche D.
Rossi had Sunday brunch at the high-end vegan restaurant in West Hollywood where she was waiting tables. But a week later, Farah says her boss got an email from the talk show queen. They're like, "We had to talk to you.
She emailed the owner of the restaurant and complained about your chip nail polish. " What? And I was like, "What?
" Farah says in a bid to plate the high-profile celebrity, her boss hit her with a two-week suspension at no pay. She got so upset she quit. They were going to suspend me if I hadn't quit for the two weeks.
What would you say to Ellen? I would say, what is happening in your life that you are already busy with the bountiful grace that's happening to your wealth, your influence? Why do you have the time to mess with someone who was just serving you?
Do you look at Ellen differently now because of that incident? Oh, absolutely. I mean, before this, I was a huge fan.
Like many waitresses in LA, Farah is also an actress and does standup comedy. I don't want to name any names. The waitress's story is just the latest blow for Ellen, who faces accusations of turning a blind eye to a toxic work culture at her talk show, despite her public reputation for being kind to people.
Be kind to one another. I felt mostly just sad that Ellen is so rich and powerful and a female comedian would take her time to hurt someone who she probably guesses is somewhat of a starving artist. I have seen some of the celebrities who came out and been like, "Well, she was never rude to me.
" And I'll be like, "Yeah, girl, rich, powerful celebrity. Well, she wasn't rude to you. I get it, but you aren't someone who's working underneath her.
" One producer claimed Ellen knew how people were being treated, but stayed quiet. According to that account, someone else would act tough and yell while she stood back and laughed. The image on TV didn't match what some people experienced behind the scenes.
Then old clips started resurfacing. In one interview, she kept pushing singer Taylor Swift to talk about her dating life, even when Taylor clearly didn't want to. It turned into a game that made things awkward.
In another moment, actress Dakota Johnson corrected her on live TV about not being invited to a party. That small moment caught people's attention. It felt like a crack in Ellen's perfect image.
But the moment that really stuck with people involved Mariah Carey. During an interview, Ellen joked about rumors that Mariah was pregnant. [music] She brought out drinks and pressured her to take a sip to prove the rumors weren't true.
Mariah looked uncomfortable, but eventually gave in. You and I both really know now that Miss Ellen not as nice as she portrayed on TV. Now, the most awkward, uncomfortable, and borderline unethical interview that Ellen did has to be Mariah Carey.
Make sure you watch my pop culture paint lesson about Dakota and Ellen to get all of the tea. Mariah Carey was on the Ellen DeGeneres show in 2008, and Ellen obviously has to pry and bring up the pregnancy rumors that were circulating at the time. She didn't just do that, though.
In order to pressure an answer out of her, she made her drink champagne live on TV. And then the other thing is that people are saying that uh that you're pregnant. There there's rumors.
Don't discuss that. [laughter] Um All right. Well, you don't have to.
No, that's okay. No, honestly, you don't have to ask me. Let's just toast with champagne and decide.
Saying that since we I can't believe you did this to me, Ellen. What? No.
Are you trying? I'm not going to ask you if you're pregnant or not. This is peer pressure.
You see what Ellen is doing? This is peer pressure. No.
Let's toast to you not being pregnant. If you're not pregnant, then my business. I can't believe that.
Why would we toast to that? You're pregnant. You're pregnant.
You're pregnant. Mariah didn't want to release that she was pregnant yet because she has had a history of having miscarriages and it was way too early on. Shortly after the interview, Mariah suffered a miscarriage.
She talks all about this in some interviews from 2020 and her book that came out, but that's honestly a very evil thing for someone like Ellen to do with her platform. And Mariah continuously brings up that how uncomfortable that moment made her. Whether or not it was real champagne doesn't really matter.
It's the fact that she was pressuring her into answering on live TV. When people found that out, the clip didn't feel funny anymore. Was the be kind image really the full story?
That question didn't go away. And when people started connecting it to what Cat Williams has been saying for years, things started to look different. Cat has always warned that Hollywood knows how to build perfect public images.
In his standup and interviews, he explains it in a simple way. Some people don't show you who they really are. Instead, [music] they play a role, a carefully designed character.
According to him, some spend their whole careers acting like angels, not because that's who they are, but because they're scared of what people might see if the mask slips. And this is where the conversation starts to shift towards something deeper. Cat has claimed that many entertainers feel pressure to change who they are just to fit in.
[music] To stay successful, they have to follow certain rules, keep powerful people happy, and never step out of line. In his words, the system rewards those who play along. That's why when stories about Ellen Degenerous started coming out, some people didn't see it as shocking.
They saw it as proof of what Cat had been warning about all along. Because to the public, Hollywood looks bright and polished. [music] You see the smiles, the jokes, the big moments on stage.
But behind closed doors, some say it's a completely different world. The public sees one version of reality. [music] Clean, polished, controlled.
But according to voices like Cat Williams, there may be another version. One that stays hidden behind closed doors. Do you think we will ever see it come out?
Let us know in the comments below.
