After allegations of assault and intimidation on the set of the "Ellen DeGeneres Show", the presenter will end her show in the coming year.
With that, one of the most famous American presenters throws in the towel - and of all people who has long been high on the moral scale.
DeGeneres campaigned for elephants and gorillas, for AIDS victims and for the LGBTQ community and for Transcendental Meditation. In her show she gives (more precisely: make her sponsors) generous gifts to needy populations and random winners. President Obama awarded her the Medal of Freedom in 2016. “Be nice to each other,” she always says at the end of her show. DeGeneres has hosted NBC for nineteen years, the show was awarded 61 Emmys, DeGeneres styled himself as the embodiment of "kindness". But when reports of a poisoned work atmosphere and sexual assault behind the scenes surfaced last summer, their motto suddenly seemed like a hollow phrase. She had already lost her show once when she was the victim of a homophobic campaign after she came out as a lesbian woman in 1997.The television preacher Jerry Falwell called her "Ellen Degenerate", and in 1998 "Ellen" was discontinued. DeGeneres was understanding. You understand that some people do not understand, she said at the time.
DeGeneres and the image of "kindness"
Five years later she took off and positioned herself with boyhood, zest for life and mildly sarcastic humor as a no-frills do-gooder who you would like to have as your best friend.
She provided entertainment with her dancing and singing interludes.
The dark sides of her biography - sexual assault by her stepfather and the experience of the homophobia campaign - solidified the image of the saint: The fact that she stood for "kindness" in spite of everything increased her reputation (and market value).
There has always been a lot of wishful thinking in the construction of figures of salvation in American pop culture. It's about business. DeGeneres made their supposed goodness a brand. This brand includes a record company, a home furnishings, clothing and pet supplies label, and a clothing line at WalMart. Forbes put their fortune at $ 87.5 million in 2018.
One segment of their show is entitled “Cash for Kindness” - cash for goodness. In front of a hidden camera, unsuspecting passers-by in Los Angeles are suggested a situation in which an accident happens to someone. Under the covert guidance of DeGeneres from the studio, those willing to help are asked to provide more and more help, much to the amusement of the audience. At the end, the good Samaritans are invited to the studio and given a cash prize. But marketing goodness is very different from real goodness, just as America's “televangelists” marketing religion has little in common with Christian principles.
She had no idea of a toxic work atmosphere on her set, she said on the Today Show about the allegations.
She couldn't possibly keep an eye on all 255 employees on her show.
“I am a lovely person.
I like to make others happy, ”said DeGeneres.
She actually wanted to give up last summer, she said, but her therapist advised against it by saying that after all, it makes a lot of people happy, and that is her job.
Perhaps it is simply impossible for Ellen DeGeneres to live up to the demands of the public.
Perhaps, however, she herself has long since blindly believed in the image she has created.
That makes it difficult to perceive contradictions.