Top 10 Times The Ellen Show Went Too Far

American soap opera actress Alison Sweeney has been Ellen’s guests a few times, but one appearance sticks out more than the others. While playing a giant game of Jenga, Sweeney tries to carefully remove a brick near the top of the stack. She’s successful, but then Ellen takes it upon herself to shove Sweeney into the tower and knock it down. Though Sweeney wasn’t upset by the stunt, this doesn’t mean it was a nice thing to do. Was the game of Jenga going on for too long? Was Ellen trying to avoid losing, so thought she’d end the game dramatically? Who knows.

Ellen decided to take Michelle Obama - still the First Lady at the time - to a pharmacy as a way to poke fun at how out of touch famous people can be from everyday citizens. The irony there is, of course, that DeGeneres herself is a multi-millionaire herself, and Mrs. Obama has spent much of her career and life helping and defending marginalized people. To make matters worse, part of Ellen’s schtick is to walk around the store, taking items out of their packaging, yelling about the First Lady through a megaphone, and embarrassing her in public.

In October 2019, Dakota Johnson turned thirty and celebrated in style with a huge party. A few weeks later, she appeared on “Ellen” and was quickly interrogated by the host about why Ellen didn’t get a party invite. What followed went down in pop culture history, as Johnson pointed out that Ellen was invited after all, but didn’t show up because she was “busy” that weekend. To make matters worse for Ellen, it later came out that she’d been at a football game that same weekend with former president George W. Bush, whose political stance was decidedly anti-LGBT during his time in office and is a controversial politician, to say the least. It’s no wonder Ellen isn’t Dakota’s favorite comedian.

Taylor Swift’s been in the public eye for a long time, and you have to assume she’s gotten increasingly tired of answering questions about her love life as the years have gone on. This was never clearer than when Ellen took it upon herself to quiz Taylor about Zac Efron, who she’d been seen out with. Ellen made an entire game out of pictures of Taylor Swift with random, male celebrities, asking her to ring a bell every time she sees someone she actually dated. Taylor makes it clear from the beginning that she doesn’t want to take part, but Ellen isn’t having any of it. The bit goes on for far longer than it should have.

#6: Céline Dion

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Back in 2007, legendary Canadian singer Céline Dion appeared on “Ellen” and came under fire for the way her son had his hair styled at the time. Ellen wanted to know why Dion had let him grow his hair so long and asked when he was going to get it cut off, much to Dion’s annoyance. After all, her son wasn’t hurting anybody by having long hair. Ellen is a pioneer when it comes to breaking down barriers and traditional gender norms, so it doesn’t seem to fit that she would make such a big deal over a young boy being allowed to grow his hair. Dion put her in her place.

Ellen is presenting a segment about real estate ads in the US, and one Georgia-based realtor named Titi Pierce came under particular scrutiny. Ellen found it hilarious to mispronounce her name on purpose, making Pierce the butt of many jokes. Pierce later sued Ellen for the distress caused by the segment, saying in all her life nobody has ever mispronounced her name like that. Pierce also wanted compensation for the many prank calls she received from “Ellen” viewers, because the show didn’t hide her contact information. Pierce ended up losing the lawsuit, but it does seem irresponsible that they showed her cell phone number on national TV.

Some members of the studio audience were invited backstage to look around the set and take a free gift from a large table full of “Ellen” branded items. They’re firmly told that they’re only allowed one gift each, but the hidden camera catches one girl double-dipping. And what was the reason she committed this heinous crime? She wanted to take something back for her sister, who couldn’t be there. Though this is a perfectly understandable reason, she’s publicly humiliated by Ellen, who insists she should have stuck to the limit. Then she’s brought up to sit in “Ellen jail”, all because she tried to do something nice for her family.

#3: Prison Joke

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During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, “Ellen” had to stop filming in studio. The show was recorded from inside Ellen’s house with no studio audience to laugh at her jokes and very few staff members to tell her that she might say something people would find offensive. That’s probably how this joke slipped through the cracks, where Ellen compares being isolated in her giant mansion with her wife and dog to being in jail. Remarkably, this wasn’t the only thing Ellen was criticized about during the quarantine; it also came out that the show’s staff members took enormous pay cuts, leaving them struggling during the global pandemic.

#2: Nicki Minaj Parody

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Though it never aired, in 2015 Nicki Minaj struck a deal with ABC Family to make a TV show about her early life in New York. Upon hearing the news, Ellen was quick to produce a small sketch making fun of the idea, saying it was a sneak preview. The sketch itself showed a young Nicki and her parents, all sporting giant, fake butts, and accidentally knocking their furniture over. The sketch was slammed for its offensive and tasteless jokes about Minaj’s body, not to mention the fact many viewers thought it was racist.

In 2008, Ellen took it upon herself to get the scoop on whether Mariah Carey was pregnant. She asks her repeatedly and then brings out some glasses of champagne, insisting that Carey have a drink if she really isn’t expecting. It later came out that while Carey was pregnant at the time, and she sadly suffered a miscarriage shortly after this infamous interview. Because of Ellen’s behavior forcing her into an early implied pregnancy announcement, Carey had to address the miscarriage in the press later on. It’s already a deeply traumatic thing to go through; to be forced to do so in the public eye makes it that much harder.