Ellen DeGeneres might have ditched Trump-era America for Europe and wrapped up her notoriously famous talk show after 19 seasons, but her ex-guests still aren’t done talking. Comedian and podcast host Adam Carolla just reignited the long-standing discussion around Ellen’s backstage behaviour, sharing his own uneasy run-in from his time as a guest on the show. Speaking on The After Party with Emily Jashinsky, Carolla called out the eerie vibe behind the scenes and the way, he claims, her staff seemed to live in fear.
Adam Carolla reveals how staff feared Ellen DeGeneres
Carolla shared an incident back from 2012 when he was prepping for the show backstage and described the whole vibe as “extremely tensed”. He recalled how a segment producer repeatedly came into his dressing room, nervous and panicked, to remind him and make sure he wouldn’t mention anything about meat since Ellen was a well-known vegan back then and she didn’t like anyone to bring up that topic during the show. However, Carolla found it strange, even unsettling. “The guy came in once, said, ‘Just avoid talking about meat.’ Then he came back again 20 minutes later just to double-check. I could tell he was scared,” Carolla said.
While calling out some of the ‘worst’ talk show hosts, Carolla even dragged David Letterman into the conversation, saying both he and Ellen were among the “scariest” ones to work with. He compared their behind-the-scenes energy to places like Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which, he said, had a relaxed and professional vibe. “Ellen’s show, people were scared, real scared,” he said. At one point, Carolla recalled meeting someone from Ellen’s team, a former writer who also worked for Rosie O’Donnell. He didn’t name him, saying the guy had signed an NDA. But what stuck with Carolla was this: “I asked him, ‘How’s Ellen?’ And he said, ‘Worst person. Not just worst boss, worst person I’ve ever met.’” Carolla added, “She’s not a nice person at all.”
Carolla said at one point he even started to wonder about their encounter and said, “Everyone was scared of her, which means she’s mean.” He continued, “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.” Carolla isn’t the only one who’s called out Ellen and her behaviour. This isn’t the first time her name’s been dragged into toxic workplace claims. Back in 2020, a BuzzFeed News investigation featured accounts from several former employees who accused the show of racism, intimidation, and even being penalised for taking medical leave. The backlash hit hard, and by 2022, the show was done for good. Ellen, of course, blamed it on “creative challenges.”
More recently, Ellen addressed the controversy in her Netflix special For Your Approval. She admitted that being called “mean” hurt deeply at first but added, “After a lifetime of caring, I just can’t anymore. So I don’t.” Currently, Ellen lives in the UK with her wife Portia de Rossi. She says they originally planned to split time between the US and UK but decided to stay permanently after Donald Trump’s return to the White House. “We got here the day before the election. When we saw the results, we knew, we’re staying,” she told BBC.
