Ellen DeGeneres publicly apologized to the former staff of Ellen Show, as well as her fans during the season premiere of the program.
However, the comedian was immediately criticized for incorporating jokes into her scripted apology. Some of them said that Ellen DeGeneres missed the mark. And they also accused her of faking her apology and of not being sincere.
Experts talk about Ellen DeGeneres apology
While speaking with National Enquirer, behavioral expert Bruce Durham weighed in on DeGeneres’ apology.
“If this is an apology, it’s a terrible attempt. It misses the mark totally. She uses humor to camouflage the real topic. It would be more authentic and believable to just talk and forget the jokes,” he said.
During her monologue, DeGeneres also closed her eyes. Durham said that this was the comedian’s way of blocking something that she was involved in.
“She also rubs her hands, a self-soothe, and then folds them into prayer. If the allegations aren’t true, why is she praying? Her body language says she knows a whole lot more about what happened, but, ‘Hey, I’ve talked about it, so let’s move on,’” Durham said.
Ellen DeGeneres joked during her apology as her defense mechanism
Body language expert Dr. Lillian Glass also claimed that Ellen DeGeneres joking about the allegations was a defense mechanism from her end.
“Laughing is a sign of nervousness, shame, and perhaps guilt. But there’s nothing funny or humorous about this. People were hurt, people were fired, people were treated very badly according to their allegations. The apology didn’t help her at all. You don’t use humor when something upsetting has happened – even if you’re a comedian,” she said.
Former ‘Ellen Show’ employee, critics slammed Portia de Rossi’s wife
A former employee of Ellen Show also slammed DeGeneres after hearing her apology.
“Not only did Ellen turn my trauma – our traumas – into a joke. She somehow managed to make this about her,” the former employee told BuzzFeed News.
On Twitter, some critics of DeGeneres also slammed her apology.
“Ellen’s apology: I had no idea the place and people I go to who work for me were in a toxic environment. I’m not good enough of an actor to fake nice. I’m taking this so seriously I’m throwing in a bunch of jokes so my audience will validate I’m a good person,” Twitter user @Crutnacker wrote.
“The Ellen apology… I couldn’t even watch it all. Your employees came forward with serious allegations and you are making jokes,” Twitter user @RyanForEQUALITY tweeted.
Ellen DeGeneres no longer responded to the recent criticisms.
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