Ellen DeGeneres’ reputation as a ‘bully’ was openly discussed on Australian reality show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! almost two years ago – offering further evidence that her mean streak was hardly a secret in Hollywood.
Two of the contestants, the Bold and the Beautiful actress Katherine Kelly Lang and American gossip reporter Richard Reid, shared the rumours they’d heard about DeGeneres during a late-night conversation about ‘molls’ in showbusiness.
‘Moll’, sometimes spelled ‘mole’, is an Australian slang term for a rude or unpleasant woman.
Lang and Reid claimed that the 62-year-old comedian – whose philosophy is ‘be kind to each other’ – was ‘very bossy’, ‘not nice’, and ‘completely different’ from her upbeat on-screen persona.
Their comments, which first aired on Network 10 in January 2019, resurfaced on Friday after multiple staffers alleged that bullying, racism and sexual harassment were rampant behind the scenes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Open secret: Ellen DeGeneres’ reputation for ‘meanness’ was openly discussed on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Australia in early 2019 – almost two years before her daytime talk show was rocked by allegations of bullying and harassment behind the scenes
The conversation began when fellow campmate Angie Kent asked Lang, 59, who was the biggest ‘moll’ in showbusiness.
Reid, 51, whispered: ‘Ellen. Not nice.’
Lang agreed, saying: ‘She’s great to watch on her show and everything, but I think her personality is completely different when you get her behind the scenes.’
‘I’ve heard it’s hard to work on her show,’ Reid replied.
Claims: Actress Katherine Kelly Lang (left) and gossip reporter Richard Reid (right) shared the rumours they had heard about DeGeneres during a late-night camp discussion about ‘molls’ in Hollywood. (‘Moll’ is an Australian slang term for a rude or unpleasant woman)
Rumour has it: ‘She’s great to watch on her show and everything, but I think her personality is completely different when you get her behind the scenes,’ Lang said
‘Oh, because she’s very bossy or something?’ Lang asked, and Richard nodded.
Kent was clearly disappointed by the pair’s claims, muttering mournfully: ‘Wow… that’s really disappointing.’
Reid then said to Lang: ‘I’m glad to hear that somebody else has heard that.’
At the time, there was some industry gossip about DeGeneres being unkind to employees, but no significant allegations had been made.
Allegations: ‘I’ve heard it’s hard to work on her show,’ Reid said
Curious: The conversation began when former Gogglebox star Angie Kent (left) asked Lang (right) who was the biggest ‘moll’ in showbusiness
In an interview with the New York Times in December 2018, she branded the rumours about her prickly demeanour ‘outright lies’.
She said: ‘The first day I said, “The one thing I want is everyone here to be happy and proud of where they work, and if not, don’t work here.”
‘No one is going to raise their voice or not be grateful. That’s the rule to this day.’
‘Outright lies’: At the time, there was some industry gossip about DeGeneres being unkind to employees, but no serious allegations had been made. Pictured with her wife, Portia de Rossi
It comes as her popular daytime talk show faces an internal investigation following numerous allegations of a ‘toxic’ and ‘bullying’ workplace culture.
An internal memo sent last week explained that current and former staff will be interviewed about claims of ‘mistreatment, racism and intimidation’ behind the scenes.
DeGeneres hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing herself.
Several previous employees have claimed that DeGeneres was unfriendly on set and that crew members were warned not to talk to her or make eye contact.
Bombshell: It comes as The Ellen DeGeneres Show faces an internal investigation following numerous allegations of a ‘toxic’ and ‘bullying’ workplace culture
Meanwhile, DeGeneres is now allegedly telling senior figures at Telepictures and Warner Bros. that she has had enough and wants to pull the plug on the show.
Last Thursday, she attempted to do some internal damage control by issuing an apology email to current staffers, in which she appeared to deflect all blame and noted that she was ‘disappointed’ to learn the show was not ‘a place of happiness’.
The email was immediately met with backlash, with many expressing disappointment over Ellen shifting the blame to her executive producers.
Under scrutiny: Several previous employees have claimed that DeGeneres was unfriendly on set and that crew members were warned not to talk to the host or make eye contact