Ellen DeGeneres has returned with a new stand-up comedy special on Netflix, but one “crazy” moment has left viewers convinced it was all staged.
For Your Approval marks a major return to the spotlight for DeGeneres, who – in her own words – was “kicked out of show business” after allegations of bullying on her flagship talk show emerged.
Before its release, the comedian confirmed: “This is the last time you’re going to see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done.”
She addresses the accusations of spearheading a toxic workplace environment during the special, joking with the audience that she was blacklisted for “being mean.”
this is one of the craziest things i have ever seen pic.twitter.com/aJFpuWDTEZ
— sam (@samxmcgowan) September 24, 2024
As the show draws to a close, she admits she “can be demanding and impatient and tough. I’m a strong woman.”
At this point, the audience starts clapping… and they don’t stop for over a minute. It’s a prolonged ovation, with many people standing up and cheering.
“I know this is scripted but like are you cuckoo-bananas to script it for that long,” one viewer reacted on X/Twitter. “Staged. The camera angles are too well planned,” another tweeted.
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My first reaction is that this isn’t real, and if it is then it’s been rehearsed for the taping.I’ve been doing stand up 14 years and I know Americans are a bit more eager but there’s no way she got a minute long applause break for admitting what a cunt she is. https://t.co/M4wcZxF5Oc
— Freddy Quinne (@FreddyQuinne) September 25, 2024
Others are convinced the moment was staged, with one claiming: “In case anyone didn’t know: at the end of tapings they’ll often have the comic go back to certain moments and redeliver jokes or punchlines and then coach the audience on how to react.”
“My first reaction is that this isn’t real, and if it is then it’s been rehearsed for the taping,” a third wrote.
The special hasn’t gone down well with critics either, with Time Magazine writing in its review: “The problem with For Your Approval, aside from the fact that it is almost never funny, is that it feels so disingenuous.”
Reviewers have criticized DeGeneres for portraying herself as a “martyr” and dancing around the allegations raised in BuzzFeed’s 2020 report, which included claims of racism and sexual misconduct behind the scenes of her talk show.
For more Netflix news, find out what’s going on with Virgin River Season 6, Heartstopper Season 3, and Stranger Things Season 5, and check out other TV shows streaming this month.