Ellen DeGeneres’s ‘reign of terror’ brutally mocked at MTV Movie Awards

Ellen DeGeneres was a target of mockery at MTV’s Movie and Television Awards, when her “reign of terror” appeared in an “In Memoriam” segment.

Last Wednesday (12 May), DeGeneres announced that she was ending her eponymous US talk show after 19 seasons, amid a sustained controversy over allegations of a toxic work environment behind the scenes.

DeGeneres was also at the centre of unverified allegations about her off-camera behaviour, from claims that she would demand that people not look her in the eye, to claims that her real-life personality clashed with her kinder on-camera persona.

On Monday (17 May), MTV broadcast the second night of their annual Movie and Television Awards, and host Nikki Glaser commemorated DeGeneres’s impending TV departure by mocking her in an “In Memoriam” skit.

“I’d now like to take a sombre-slash-awkward moment to acknowledge all that we’ve lost in the world of unscripted entertainment this year,” Glaser said.

Included within the presentation was a black-and-white clip of DeGeneres alongside the caption: “Ellen’s reign of terror (2003-2021).”

The presentation also included jokes at the expense of Keeping Up with the Kardashians star Scott Disick, as well as Love Is Blind cast member Giannina Gibelli.

After announcing her intention to end her show, DeGeneres once again denied claims of poor behaviour on her part.

“When it started, with that stupid ‘Someone couldn’t look me in the eye’ or whatever the first thing was, it’s like a crest of a wave,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “Like, ‘This isn’t going to be that big of a wave.’ And then it just keeps getting bigger and bigger until it was out of control. And I really, honestly, felt like, ‘I don’t deserve this. I don’t need this. I know who I am. I’m a good person.’”

In a separate interview last week, DeGeneres suggested that the backlash against her in 2019 and 2020 was “orchestrated” and misogynist in nature.

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