Adam Carolla claimed that he witnessed Ellen DeGeneres’ employees being “really scared” on her talk show set and sensed the tension.
“Ellen has always been a mean person,” Carolla, 61, alleged during his Tuesday, July 29, appearance on the “After Party with Emily Dashinsky” podcast.
The comedian, who appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2012, recalled knowing the staff was “scared” because of how they prepped him for his interview.
“I was just sitting in my dressing room and their segment producer came in, and he went, ‘All right, so we went over all the stuff we’re going to talk about.’ You know, Christmas vacation or whatever it was,” Carolla remembered. “And I go, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ He goes, ‘You’re not gonna talk about meat or beef or anything like that, right?’ And I go, ‘No, I’m not.’”
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Carolla noted that wasn’t the only time he was warned about what topics to talk about with DeGeneres, 67.
“And he came back 20 minutes later right before I went out, and he’s like, ‘OK, but don’t talk about beef or meat.’ I was like, ‘Oh, this guy’s scared to death,’” Carolla recalled. “This guy’s scared.”
Carolla later claimed that he spoke with someone else who was part of the talk show team, and they were allegedly just as uncomfortable working with the talk show host.
“Later on, I talked to someone who signed an NDA, so I won’t say his name, but he wrote for Ellen,” Carolla told podcast host Emily Dashinsky. “I just went, ‘How’s Ellen?’ And he said, ‘Worst person, uh, worst person [and] not [the] worst person I’ve worked for, worst person I’ve ever met.’”
Carolla once again claimed that DeGeneres is “not a nice person at all,” which he realized a decade before she was investigated for her alleged unhealthy work environment.
“Everyone was scared of her, which means she’s mean,” Carolla reiterated, noting, “She’s not gonna be mean to me, I’m a guest on the show, right? I wouldn’t know it from my exchanges, I would know it from how her staff was cowering.”
Us Weekly has reached out to DeGeneres’ rep for comment.
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DeGeneres was accused in March 2020 of creating a toxic workplace. After dozens of staffers spoke out with allegations of their own, WarnerMedia launched an investigation into the claims.
That July, DeGeneres sent a lengthy memo to her staff and apologized for her actions, noting everyone should be treated with respect.
DeGeneres addressed the allegations during her return to the show in September 2020, telling the audience, “I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously, and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected.”
She added: “I know that I’m in a position of privilege and power, and I realize that with that comes responsibility, and I take responsibility for what happens at my show.”
In May 2021, DeGeneres announced that The Ellen DeGeneres Show would end in May 2022 after 19 seasons. She claimed her exit had nothing to do with the on-set complaints or controversy.
“It’s going to be really hard on the last day, but I also know it’s time. I’m a creative person, and when you’re a creative person you constantly need to be challenged,” DeGeneres told The Hollywood Reporter at the time, claiming she was walking away because the show had become so routine. “I just needed something to challenge me.”
When asked about the controversy, DeGeneres told the outlet that it was “very hurtful,” but not the reason for her leaving the talk show world.
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“It destroyed me, honestly. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t,” the longtime host said in May 2021. “It broke my heart when I learned that people here had anything other than a fantastic experience — that people were hurt in any way.”
Three years later, DeGeneres brought up the topic during her Netflix special, Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval, saying, “I’m proud of who I’ve become.”
She explained during the November 2024 stand-up event that “the thought of anyone thinking that I’m mean was devastating to me and it consumed me for a long time.”
However, she has since changed her tune. “But with time, you gain perspective, which is one good thing about aging. With perspective, you realize that caring what people think, to a degree, is healthy. But not if it affects your mental health,” DeGeneres said, adding that after “a lifetime of caring, I just can’t anymore.”
