Kathy Griffin says Ellen DeGeneres has a ‘mean streak’ in new book
Just 24 hours ago, President Barack Obama awarded Ellen DeGeneres a Presidential Medal of Freedom. DeGeneres was one of 21 recipients of this years’ medal, which is the highest award a civilian in the United States can be given.
During the ceremony, Obama said DeGeneres, who famously lives by the mantra of ‘be kind to one another’, has a way of “making people laugh at something rather than at someone.”
Yet, fellow comedian Kathy Griffin has said DeGeneres ‘has a mean streak’ that is ‘well known throughout Hollywood’.
In Griffin’s book, Celebrity Run-Ins: My A-Z Index, she says, “I’m almost positive a certain beloved daytime talk show host once had me kicked out of a backstage dressing room at the Emmy Awards. I can’t prove it, but this person, who has short blonde hair, has a mean streak that all of Hollywood knows about.”
The 56-year-old told US Weekly her feud with DeGeneres began in 2007.
“Ellen did a monologue about how mean I am,” Griffin told the magazine. “I was in the dressing room like, ’Sh*t! You’re another woman comic, c’mon!’”
DeGeneres had previously thrown shade Griffin’s way earlier that year. In an interview with W magazine, DeGeneres said, “I know she had a big thing about wanting to be on the show, and we didn’t book her. She did a whole thing that I banned her from the show. I didn’t ban her from the show, because first you have to be on the show to be banned.”
Ouch.
“I don’t know if Ellen gets that when I talk about women, I’m joking,” Griffin told US Weekly. “I just feel really strongly about women supporting each other, especially women over 50 and women in comedy, because the people who still make decisions are still middle-aged white guys. We have to be better at not turning on each other.”
DeGeneres isn’t the only celeb being slammed in Griffin’s new book. She writes “you could never convince me to like Jon Hamm” after noting the Mad Men actor is “cold and somewhat disrespectful”.
Griffin also wrote about an event she hosted with Ashton Kutcher in 2005, and says he didn’t speak to her once. “It was bizarre and rude and made me feel as if he thought I was beneath him, someone not worth talking to in the slightest.”
The tome not only delivers scathing character reviews, but also hilarious anecdotes from celebrity run-ins. Griffin notes she met Harry Styles and Kendall Jenner at an Eagles concert in 2009. Styles was so drunk that Tom Hanks, who was also there, offered to drive him home. At one point Styles reportedly asked Hanks if he remembered starring in his Oscar-winning films.
