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Did “Fifty Shades of Grey” star Dakota Johnson bring down one of the most popular talk show hosts in history?


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/ellen-degeneres-show-public-persona-dakota-johnson-buzzfeed-a9651771.html

Well, no — but you might have recently seen a lot of jokes on Twitter that say as much. Ellen DeGeneres’s reputation has been on a downward slide since roughly last fall, when, during a particularly awkward interview, DeGeneres accused Johnson of not inviting her to a birthday party and Johnson replied with the now infamous quote, “Actually, no, that’s not the truth, Ellen.”

But that was just one in a series of controversial incidents surrounding DeGeneres, which culminated in a much more serious way last week after a pair of BuzzFeed articles alleged a toxic work environment on the daily talk show, as well as allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct by producers. Warner Bros. launched an internal investigation. DeGeneres sent an email to staff that said she took responsibility as the face of the show, but criticized her employees for not “do[ing] their jobs as they knew I’d want them done.” As a result, she wrote, she and the production company will be “taking steps, together, to correct the issues.”

November 2019: The Dakota Johnson interview
Yes, it has become somewhat of a Twitter meme that Johnson “brought down Ellen,” but this incident may have opened the floodgates. DeGeneres kicked off their interview by noting Johnson had recently turned 30: “How was the party? I wasn’t invited.”

Johnson, decidedly unamused, shot back: “Actually, no, that’s not the truth, Ellen. You were invited.” DeGeneres looked taken aback, as Johnson continued to say that she remembered DeGeneres had been offended she wasn’t invited to her 29th birthday, so the actress made sure to include her for her 30th. “I didn’t even know you wanted to be invited,” Johnson said.

“Who doesn’t want to be invited to a party?” DeGeneres asked.

“I didn’t even know you liked me!” Johnson exclaimed, as DeGeneres insisted she did, in fact, like her. “But I did invite you and you didn’t come, so …”

“Are you sure? How do you know? I don’t think so,” DeGeneres said.

“Ask everybody,” Johnson said flatly, drawing an audible gasp from the audience. “Ask Jonathan, your producer.”

Eventually, it was confirmed that yes, Johnson had invited DeGeneres, but she was out of town that weekend (many surmised that it was likely when she was in Dallas at the Cowboys game with Bush, as Johnson’s birthday was earlier that week). The interview went viral, and Johnson was hailed for standing up to DeGeneres when other celebrities would have been highly unlikely — or too afraid — to do so.

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https://www.vox.com/21357113/ellen-degeneres-canceled-mean-backlash-toxic-workplace

"DeGeneres’s reputation began showing wear months ago," says Alex Abad-Santos. "A pivotal moment in the dismantling of DeGeneres’s persona as TV’s friendliest talk show host happened in November during an interview with actress and celebrity scion Dakota Johnson. The interview, like most of DeGeneres’s interviews, seemed to be casual, as if DeGeneres and Johnson were old friends. But this typical pattern was subverted and dove into awkward territory when DeGeneres asked Johnson about why she wasn’t invited to Johnson’s recent 30th birthday party. The implication: Dakota Johnson is too cool for nice Ellen, or maybe she’s even a mean girl...Through admonishing Johnson, DeGeneres was caught fibbing and inadvertently drew attention to her controversial hangout with (George W.) Bush. For DeGeneres, who has built her career on being seen as authentically nice, her fib tarnished her reputation even more than watching a game with George W. Bush did." Abad-Santos adds of Ellen's recent toxic workplace controversy: "At this point, more and more people are coming forward about how awful it was to work at certain television shows with certain actors, writers rooms, creatives, and Hollywood bigwigs, bringing the reality of what it’s like working in Hollywood to light. The stories about abuse and caustic workplaces seem like symptoms of a bigger problem — an industry with little to no oversight or protections for its workers. But what makes The Ellen DeGeneres Show production team’s alleged transgressions more shocking is that DeGeneres has built an entire career and celebrity status by assuring us that she wasn’t like other celebrities. DeGeneres’s brand is about being so relentlessly kind and so interminably inoffensive that you didn’t have to worry about Ellen ever being problematic."

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