How 'Queen of Mean' Ellen DeGeneres' Bullied Staffers Got Revenge on Canceled Chat Show Host By Playing Prank Which Sent Shamed Star Into Meltdown
Ellen DeGeneres's long suffering staffers played a prank on the canceled star in revenge for her nightmarish behavior on set.
Aug. 28 2025, Published 8:50 a.m. ET
Fed-up staffers bullied by Ellen DeGeneres pranked the canceled chat show host in revenge for her nightmarish behavior, according to new claims.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the crewmembers secretly swapped the presenter’s shoes for an identical pair in children’s size, in a pointed dig at the comedienne's notoriously difficult nature behind the scenes.
'She Flipped Out'
DeGeneres did not see the funny side to staffers swapping her shoes with identical toddler version.
And the joke reportedly sparked another epic DeGeneres meltdown.
A source said: "She likes Vans shoes with white laces.
"And someone swapped it with a toddler version of the same shoes — basically to say, like, 'you're being a baby.'
"She went to put them on, and she flipped out."
The source also told of the one silver lining to DeGeneres's mercurial temperament.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, the former staffer said: "Tapings were usually 45 minutes to an hour.
"When she was in a bad mood, we had extra quick tapings."
Shunning The Limelight
The canceled star fled to the U.K. to maintain a low profile existence following her show axing.
DeGeneres's chat show ran from 2003 until 2022 when it was canceled amid claims of a toxic workplace, sparked by the TV veteran's behavior on set.
Allegations of bullying first emerged in 2020, with DeGeneres, 67, claiming she had no knowledge how awful her show was to work on.
She made the denial despite being an executive producer who earned around $70million-a-year from the show.
After her high-profile axing in 2022, DeGeneres moved to England with actress wife Portia De Rossi, 52, in the wake of Donald Trump's second election win and has stayed out of the limelight since.
Fresh Bullying Allegations
DeGeneres reportedly allowed execs pressure a senior staffer into rescheduling a bone marrow transplant for their child.
However, despite shunning the spotlight, DeGeneres has been unable to hide from fresh bullying claims made this week.
She is accused of letting her executives pressure a senior staffer into rescheduling a bone marrow transplant for their child to a date that would better suit her.
"It was asked of this particular person if the kid's 'thing' — that's what they referred to it as — was the same week as the Christmas holiday week," the ex-staffer continued.
"This was a person pretty high up. This person was asked if they could move the procedure around the Christmas holiday week, for Ellen.
"They were there on the day of the taping that week — Ellen got exactly what she wanted. It was all loyalty to the show, but no loyalty to staff."
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It was also claimed DeGeneres did not like staffers talking to her wife, Portia De Rossi.
DeGeneres would get upset at her workers "if they were ever caught in conversation with Portia."
"You just hoped and prayed you weren't seated by her wife, so you didn't get her attention. You wanted to avoid looking into what we called the 'Ellen gaze.'"
Those who ended up in the star's crosshairs often ended up getting fired or banished for the slightest perceived slight, it is claimed.
One worker at Warner Bros. studios complex in Burbank, California, was let go a few days after blocking DeGeneres's car with a golf cart he was driving, the source said.
It is unclear if DeGeneres herself was behind the firing.
Another incident saw a warm-up act on the show implore DeGeneres to be careful while riding a unicycle onto her set.
That worker was booted from the show shortly after, the source alleged.
