Ellen DeGeneres Staff Reportedly Calling Her 'Talk Show Karen' Amid Abuse Allegations | 22 Words

Amid the current investigation into The Ellen Show, several celebrities have revealed the terror that went on behind the scenes - and now a secret nickname for the presenter has come to light.

Where do we even begin with the whole Ellen DeGeneres scandal?

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 The infamous host of The Ellen Show has been batting off accusation after accusation... and now, the show is reportedly under investigation following reports of "mistreatment."

For years now, rumors about Ellen's true personality have been rife.

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 Though she has built her on-screen persona around being outspoken against injustice and generous to the needy, many people have claimed that, in real life, she is quite the opposite.

Those who have met the star have claimed that she is nothing more than another power-hungry, self-centered celebrity.

Which is certainly a far cry from the relatable and humble TV host we all know and love... Or we thought we knew and loved.

In recent years, Ellen's image has been questioned more and more.

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 Cracks have certainly begun to show, and rumors of the somewhat nastier personality behind the famous smiling blonde-haired, blue-eyed face have been intensifying.

And, this year, things have reached a breaking point.

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 Now, more than ever before, people are starting to turn against the star as detrimental stories continue to resurface.

Her past employees certainly haven't held back.

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 For example...

Ellen clearly doesn't care too much for writer's strikes.

This Twitter user came forward with the story about Ellen's head writer, Karen Kilgariff. Karen was under Ellen's employment for 5 years until she took part in a writer's strike. Boom. Fired. And a word was never exchanged between the pair again.

More scandal regarding her treatment of staff...

This woman claims that her friend used to work as a writer on the show and, in the whole 2 years of her employment, Ellen didn't greet her once. In fact, none of the staff were allowed to speak to the star of the show. Apparently.

Staff weren't even allowed in the same room as her.

Wow, we really aren't worthy, are we?

Her veganism has also ruffled a few feathers in the past.

For a colleague's birthday, Twitter user Alison Freer was celebrating with a BBQ outside of the Warner Bros studios where The Ellen Show is filmed. However, Ellen was quick to shut down all the festivities by sending someone over to put a stop to the celebration, all because she doesn't eat meat. Not cool, Ellen.

Her compassion for animals strikes again.

Though it's great that she cares so much about animals, her sensitivity to the matter doesn't bode well for her employees.

Ellen apparently hates her own fans.

And her own show! Who'd have thought it?

She also has no respect for her current staff.

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 In a recent, rather weird segment on her talk show, the sixty-two-year-old rated her staff's babies after telling us "my staff [have] a lot of beautiful additions to their families. Clearly they had to be rated." Did they Ellen? Did they really?

Quite predictably, these allegations have hit her already crumbling reputation pretty hard...

And, as a result, her ratings have taken a huge blow.

Before the allegations were made this year, Ellen’s ratings were consistently around 2.0 for her daytime slot...

With previous seasons of the show raking in an average of 4.5 million viewers.

But, last month...

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 The Ellen Show had its season-low rating of around 1.5.

Her ratings are continuing to decline...

So much so that, at one point in time, fans were convinced that the worst had happened, but the producers ended up confirming that the show is not going to be axed... Yet.

More and more allegations continued to arise from behind the scenes...

According to Buzzfeed News, 1 current employee, as well as 10 former ones have rallied around together to reveal their "truths" about the toxic culture behind the scenes of the show.

All the allegations were done anonymously...

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 But they revealed that it wasn't just Ellen that was the cause of the toxicity, there were also other bosses and managers that made their lives much more difficult on set.

A former employee told them that the "be kind" act was "bull****"

"That 'be kind' bullshit only happens when the cameras are on. It’s all for the show. I know they give money to people and help them out, but it’s for show."

One black woman who was part of the backstage team said she experienced "racist comments."

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 She was employed there for a total of eighteen months and in that time, she faced microaggressions and comments that made her feel uncomfortable.

She said that one of the top writer's said this to her:

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 "I'm sorry, I only know the names of the white people who work here." The employee also claimed a producer commented on her and another Black employees' hairstyles, allegedly stating: "Oh wow, you both have box braids; I hope we don’t get you confused." "Whenever I brought up an issue to my white male boss, he would bring up some random story about some random Black friend that he had and how they managed to get over stuff. He would use his Black friend as some way to say, 'I understand your struggle,' but it was all performative bullshit."

And that's not all. Several celebrities have also spoken out against Ellen.

These include beauty vlogger Nikkie de Jager, who called Ellen "cold and distant."

Also speaking out?

Comedian Kevin T. Porter ...

Voice actor Brad Garrett has also spoken up.

He worked alongside Ellen on Finding Nemo.

Lea Thompson confirmed the rumors, too.

"True story."

Tim Dillion didn't mince his words.

A pretty firm message here!

Wayne Dupree agrees.

Not convinced that any of these apologies are genuine.

And who could forget Dakota Johnson.

And the iconic "Actually, that's not true Ellen," interview?

Since these allegations arose, it seems that action has been taken...

As reports are in that The Ellen Show is officially under investigation.

The show is being investigated for racism, mistreatment, and intimidation on set.

WarnerMedia, who own and syndicate the show, are the ones launching the internal investigation into what’s happening behind the scenes.

Amid this investigation...

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 A secret nickname for the star has come to light.

Yes, that's right.

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 According to reports, Ellen is known to her staffers as "talk show Karen."

We almost feel sorry for her.

Almost!

Pretty damning stuff.

Will Ellen ever shake off this diva reputation?

It seems unlikely at this stage.

Want more Ellen controversy? Scroll on for her relationship with a former president...