I don’t understand how anyone could have hated The Ellen DeGeneres Show . That’s a talk show that I was seriously hoping would last as long as I live, because it did such a good job of making people happy. And although the show was typically full of laughs and touching moments, it is television, so things could get a little uncomfortable or awkward from time to time.
1. One of the most famous awkward moments on Ellen goes to Kanye West and his nearly six-and-a-half minute rant.
For the most part, Ellen sat quietly and watched as Kanye spoke about literally everything from historical influences to his own art.
I don’t think anybody knew what to do.
And her casual glances towards the camera said it all.
“I’m sorry, daytime television,” he says. “I’m sorry for the realness.”
After brief applause, Ellen pauses, then says, “Well, it’s not daytime television anymore.”
2. Giada De Laurentiis made an appearance on the show and intended to teach Ellen and Nicole Kidman how to cook.
But Giada spent the entire time throwing shade whenever Ellen or Nicole didn’t do something right.
You could have cut the tension with a knife, let me tell you.
Nicole responded with a lot of eyerolls and sassy comments in return.
And in the end, Nicole went for a bite of Giada’s focaccia, and assessed it by saying, “It’s a little tough…”
The whole segment was a bit of a disaster — but entertaining to watch!
3. There was the time Katy Perry was on the show and made a joke about not wanting to get married again.
In complete seriousness, Ellen tried to call Katy out, not remembering that she was once married to Russell Brand.
“To who?” Ellen asked in complete seriousness.
“His name was Russell Brand…” Katy whispered.
Katy also reminded Ellen that she gave her wedding gifts on the show.
Thankfully, both were good sports about it, and Ellen joked about cutting that part out.
4. Ellen attempted to get Taylor Swift to play a game where she rang a bell every time a guy she’s dated popped up on the screen.
Taylor was more than hesitant to play the game, but she leaned into it.
She played along.
Taylor had some fun protesting, but she knew it was all in good fun!
5. Caitlyn Jenner appeared on the show, and Ellen asked what her views were on same-sex marriage.
Caitlyn revealed that while she was once against it, but eventually came around to the idea of it.
But after Caitlyn said, “If that word, marriage, is really, really important to you, I can go with it,” Ellen wasn’t impressed.
She still continued to grill her on her beliefs, and it was super awkward.
6. Jessica Simpson made a guest appearance that seemed to be pretty exhausting for Ellen.
Jessica jumped around a lot and made a comment about being in a relationship with a woman for seven years.
Even though she was just referring to her friends, it threw Ellen right off.
She also couldn’t seem to think of anything that she and her husband liked to do together.
At the end of the interview, Ellen took one giant breath.
And even though it was entertaining to watch, fans found the whole thing to be pretty weird.
7. Ellen had Céline Dion on the show, and things went from pleasant to tense pretty quickly.
Ellen tried and failed to make a joke about Céline needing to cut her son’s hair.
Instead, Céline responded with a very sassy, “Do you have a problem with that?”
And everyone could instantly tell that Ellen had hit a nerve. She played it off pretty cool, but the damage had been done.
8. Wendy Williams made an appearance on the show, and for those of you who don’t know Wendy too well, she has her own talk show.
And let’s just say that she’s pretty outspoken.
The entire atmosphere of the interview seemed tense. Even fans picked up on it.
Things got especially weird when Wendy told Ellen that she looked like Justin Bieber. I would be insulted, too.
9. During a separate Wendy Williams appearance, Wendy shaded Kim and Kanye’s relationship (which was brand-new at the time).
Ellen came to their defense, clearly not wanting to offend Kim or Kanye.
Ellen went on to ask if Wendy’s son was ever embarrassed by her because she says whatever she feels.
Although Wendy confirmed that he was “cool” with it, the whole interview is pretty uncomfortable.
10. There was a segment on Ellen where she called out an audience member for taking more than one free souvenir.
Ellen went hard on this girl and told her she needed to be a good person.
Then, she made her sit in the Ellen jail.
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The whole thing ended up being pretty controversial, with some people suggesting that it was all staged.
And if it wasn’t staged, well, it’d be kind of odd for Ellen to call out an audience member on national television like that.
11. Ellen had Chelsea Handler on the show, and they played “Who’d You Rather?”
Ellen went through and named every male celeb, but when she got to Cristiano Ronaldo, she simply referred to him as “that guy.”
Fans were confused and wanted to know why Ellen didn’t say his name. Did she not know how to pronounce it?
Had she never heard of Cristiano Ronaldo before? We need answers!
The game continued, and when The Weeknd’s picture popped up, the first question from Chelsea was, “What’s that?”
The audience burst into laughter, but it was such an odd thing to say about somebody.
“I know what The Weeknd is but I’ve never seen what he looks like,” she added.
12. Of course, Ellen is also the queen of making situations uncomfortable on purpose.
Like the time she called Demi Lovato out for saying that Jimmy Fallon’s show was her “favorite” talk show to be on.
She should not have said that.
