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Comedian Adam Carolla has reignited criticism against former daytime host Ellen DeGeneres, claiming her staff were "scared to death" of her during his appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show over a decade ago.
Speaking on the After Party with Emily Jashinsky podcast, Carolla, 61, alleged, "Ellen has always been a mean person," and that tension was evident behind the scenes when he guested on the show in 2012.
"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 recalled. "And I go, 'Yeah, yeah.' He goes, 'You're not gonna talk about meat or beef or anything like that, right?'"
The comedian said the producer returned 20 minutes later just before he went on air. "He's like, 'OK, but don't talk about beef or meat.' I was like, 'Oh, this guy's scared to death. This guy's scared.'"
Carolla noted the difference between her set and others he'd been on, saying that compared to hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno, where the environment was "laid back," the atmosphere at Ellen's show was anything but. "Ellen's show, people were scared, real scared," he claimed.
He also alleged that another individual who worked on the show confided in him. "I talked to someone who signed an NDA, so I won't say his name, but he wrote for Ellen," Carolla said. "I just went, 'How's Ellen?' And he said, 'Worst person, uh, worst person, not worst person I've worked for, worst person I've ever met.'"
"She's not a nice person at all," Carolla continued. "Everyone was scared of her, which means she's mean. 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."
In response to earlier workplace allegations, DeGeneres addressed the issue in September 2020: "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."
DeGeneres has not publicly responded to Carolla's latest remarks.
