Did Ellen DeGeneres' "Kindness" brand cover up a dark side?

The Atlantic

Fans of The Ellen DeGeneres Show know she gets a kick out of humiliation, whether it's startling her celebrity guests or via hidden-camera pranks that come with rewards or mocking executive producer Andy Lassner. "Like any good prank, especially the pranks DeGeneres loves, cash-for-kindness revels in voyeurism, deceit, and discomfort, all of which get forgiven in the name of a laugh," says Spencer Kornhaber. "Yet, like so much of DeGeneres’s comedy, this mischief doubles as do-goodery. It is part of DeGeneres’s grand campaign to merchandise kindness—which is also seen when she says “Be kind to one another” at the end of each show, or when she gets taxi drivers to hug Uber drivers on air, or when she hawks kindness-themed subscription boxes for up to $250 a year. Her aesthetic of cream colors, goofy grins, and uplifting tears, along with her amusing displays of light sadism, have earned her a $330 million empire, a raft of Emmys, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom." Kornhaber adds: "Psychoanalyzing a star by comparing their performances with rumors about their private behavior is a dicey exercise. It's also an unavoidable one when the star is as big as DeGeneres and the cognitive dissonance created by those rumors is so great. That someone who has shown such smarts, self-awareness, and generosity might leave a trail of destruction in her personal encounters is baffling. That an avatar of kindness could have been oblivious to, or even enabled, abuse on her set is disturbing. It is natural to wonder whether having to continually modulate herself to be, per the title of her recent Netflix special, Relatable, has had an effect on how she acts when cameras aren’t rolling. It is also natural to wonder if this is simply another story of fame’s bubble having a corrupting influence."

ALSO:

• Looking back on Ellen DeGeneres' journey to becoming TV's nicest person
• Rosie O'Donnell has "compassion" for Ellen, but adds: "I think she has some social awkwardness. It’s hard for women, period"