A Look at Ellen DeGeneres’ Feud With Kathy Griffin
Ellen DeGeneres has been under major scrutiny in 2020. It largely began when comedian Kevin T. Porter tweeted that he’d make a donation to the Los Angeles Food Bank for every tweet that included an instance where DeGeneres was “mean.” He received an overwhelming response. Since then, DeGeneres has also been accused of mistreating her staff and allowing a toxic work environment to take place at The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
But before all this, DeGeneres was feuding with comedian Kathy Griffin. Their feud stemmed from the fact that DeGeneres wasn’t a fan of Joan Rivers’ humor. The talk-show host felt Rivers was too mean to be funny.
How Ellen DeGeneres’ feud with Kathy Griffin started
Griffin spoke about her relationship with DeGeneres during a stand-up show that took place in 2018 called Laugh Your Head Off. The show, as Griffing put it, was “not all jokes . . . I’m also spilling piping hot tea.”
According to Griffin, in her last meal with Rivers, the late comedian said that she’d felt shunned by DeGeneres and that “Ellen thought [Rivers] was vulgar and not funny.”
After Rivers died, Griffin called DeGeneres to ask her to put her feelings about Rivers aside to pay her respects.
“I just called her and I just said, ‘Look, woman to woman, comic to comic, I think you need to let go of your hatred for Joan Rivers,” said Griffin. “She’s passed away, just do a f*cking tribute, be cool.'”
But, according to Griffin, DeGeneres held firm in her opinions about Rivers, saying, again, “there’s a difference between mean and funny.”
Griffin says the comment infuriated her and the two comedians began to argue.
“That f*cking set me off,” Griffin admitted. “So we had a fight in which I used inflammatory words like, ‘Look you f*cking untalented hack.’ … You know when you’re fighting with someone and you can kind of laugh at a point? Yeah, not that day.”
Ellen DeGeneres’ tweet about Joan Rivers after she died
In the end, DeGeneres did post a tweet about the late Joan Rivers.
“Joan Rivers will always be a pioneer. She paved the way for a lot of comedians. I’m very sad she’s gone,” she wrote.
A few days had passed since the comedians had exchanged words. Griffin couldn’t stop thinking about the argument so she sent a text in an attempt to make amends.
“It was so ‘Dynasty’ that I demand to be Alexis as long as you’re Krystle. I think we should do a scene in the pool, I think there should be big hats,” the text read.
But Griffin never received a response back.
“That b*tch didn’t even respond! But that was a good idea!” she said.
Laugh Your Head Off premiered in 2018. In 2019, Griffin said in an interview with Rosanna Scotto on Good Day New York that she and DeGeneres weren’t exactly close.
“I am apparently not her cup of tea, but I think she is great… I am not a comedy snob,” she said.
Griffin continued: “I’m vulgar, but I think it’s great there’s clean comedians and prop comedians and topical comedians and observational comedians. I’m just happy whenever a female – especially a female over 50 – is still in the game.”
