{"id":504771,"date":"2021-05-13T15:36:21","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T19:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=504771"},"modified":"2021-05-13T15:36:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T19:36:23","slug":"ellens-exit-and-why-conservatives-should-pause-before-rejoicing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ellens-exit-and-why-conservatives-should-pause-before-rejoicing\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellen\u2019s Exit and Why Conservatives Should Pause Before Rejoicing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fellens-exit-and-why-conservatives-should-pause-before-rejoicing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=504771&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1179869189.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>Since the news broke that Ellen DeGeneres would be ending her eponymous talk show after 19 seasons amid a drumbeat of accusations alleging a hostile work environment on set, there\u2019s been no shortage of entertainment and media insiders celebrating.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But given that DeGeneres\u2019 downfall comes almost entirely at the hands of anonymous accusers, conservatives should at least pause and ask why so many in Hollywood are happy to see her go before joining the \u201cna na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye\u201d chorus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the Daily Wire previously<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/ellens-head-writer-executive-producers-accused-of-sexual-harassment\"> <span>reported<\/span><\/a><span>, the most serious charges against DeGeneres involve, not her own actions, but those of her senior executives. Executive producer Jonathan Norman is alleged to have \u201cgroomed\u201d an underling with gifts and concert tickets before attempting to perform oral sex on him. (I have some skepticism over applying the term grooming to an adult who accepts said gifts and outings, but that\u2019s a topic for another time.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One unidentified junior staffer claims head writer Kevin Leman propositioned him in a bathroom at a company Christmas party. Others, also anonymous, say they saw Leman grope an assistant and heard him make inappropriate sexual comments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Finally, five female former employees say executive producer Ed Glavin made them uncomfortable by \u201crubbing their shoulders and back, as well as placing his hand around their lower waist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>All three men deny the claims, but following an internal investigation, Warner Bros, which distributes the syndicated show, fired them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>There\u2019s no evidence as yet that DeGeneres knew of these incidents or witnessed any harassment herself, and, if the employees didn\u2019t register complaints with HR or another superior, little reason to expect she should have known.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The rest of the accusations fall under that easily abused, amorphous term \u201ctoxic.\u201d Like a black employee complaining of unspecified microaggressions and charging racism when she was denied a raise (Isn\u2019t it possible there was some other reason her employer didn\u2019t want to pay her more?). Or an unnamed staffer saying Ellen giggled and quipped, \u201cWell, I guess every production needs their dog,\u201d after witnessing an executive yell at the crew. If we learned nothing else from the Covington Catholic episode, we learned that there\u2019s more than one way to read an expression of mirth. It\u2019s entirely possible DeGeneres\u2019 comment and chuckle were an awkward attempt to break the tension and issue a subtle rebuke.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When it comes to the entertainment industry, you can\u2019t overestimate the power of sour grapes. Suddenly, every minor unpleasant encounter with a superior is spun into evidence of a toxic work environment. This isn\u2019t to suggest that DeGeneres actually <\/span><i><span>is<\/span><\/i><span> the warm, fuzzy figure she plays on TV \u2014 the preponderance of cold fish anecdotes suggests she isn\u2019t. (Though, if Hollywood were to empty of every demanding, uptight celebrity, the place would suddenly become a ghost town).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And it isn\u2019t to say that schadenfreude is the certain motivator for everyone jumping on the anti-DeGeneres\u2019 bandwagon. But conservatives should be the last people to pile on without proof and the first to take disgruntled former employees\u2019 words with a grain of salt. Because if you look closely, there seem to be other reasons some are thrilled her time on our TVs has come to an end \u2026 like her willingness to make friends across the political aisle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cEllen is retiring to spend more time with George W. Bush,\u201d<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidmackau\/status\/1392490756414312451?s=20\"> <span>sneered<\/span><\/a><span> Buzzfeed News\u2019 Deputy Director David Mack when the news broke Wednesday. Bridget Todd, leftwing iHeartRadio podcast host, also signaled that her joy stemmed from the Bush connection,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BridgetMarie\/status\/1392496421144862724?s=20\"> <span>tweeting<\/span><\/a><span>, \u201cIt will NEVER not be funny to me that Ellen\u2019s public downfall started when she lied about not being invited to Dakota Johnson\u2019s party, when in reality she couldn\u2019t come because she was at a football game with her good friend George W. Bush.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Make no mistake, whatever wrongdoing may or may not have occurred behind the scenes on \u201cThe Ellen DeGeneres Show,\u201d the reason many in the industry are happy to see her career in tatters is because she refused to apologize for making pleasant conversation with a former president and fellow football fan. Even worse, she boldly called him a friend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHere\u2019s the thing: I\u2019m friends with George Bush. In fact, I\u2019m friends with a lot of people who don\u2019t share the same beliefs that I have,\u201d DeGeneres<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/vanity-fair-scolds-ellen-degeneres-for-friendliness-with-george-w-bush\"> <span>said<\/span><\/a><span> at the time, adding, \u201cJust because I don\u2019t agree with someone on everything doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m not gonna be friends with them. When I say, \u2018Be kind to one another,\u2019 I don\u2019t mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone. It doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We also must not forget how much ire DeGeneres earned from her industry when she showed grace to comedian Kevin Hart, inviting him on her show and assuring him she was in his corner after he\u2019d been dismissed from hosting the Oscars over ten-year-old jokes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Variety\u2019s Senior Entertainment Writer Adam B. Vary spoke for plenty of his peers when he<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adambvary\/status\/1081121826707693568?s=20\"> <span>fumed<\/span><\/a><span> at DeGeneres for daring to tell Hart not to let people like Vary win: \u201cFirst, the people who brought up Kevin Hart\u2019s past tweets \u2014 like me \u2014 were not, as Ellen characterized, \u2018haters.\u2019 The host of the Oscars had made anti-gay jokes, and LGBT people who love the Oscars were legitimately startled to see just how harsh his words were.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>There is a<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/general-news\/ellen-backlash-kevin-hart-interview-1173135\/\"> <span>side<\/span><\/a><span> that doesn\u2019t want those who\u2019ve violated their speech codes to hear that anyone is in their corner. They don\u2019t want someone as influential as DeGeneres telling the world it can ignore them as \u201chaters.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This isn\u2019t to say conservatives need to be Ellen fans. I\u2019m not and never have been. Her soft shoe, sunshine routine always struck a false note for me, and I certainly don\u2019t care for her politics. But I\u2019m not going to do a little Ellen dance on her grave. Given that she represents an old guard that at least preached kindness and tolerance for other views, even if she didn\u2019t always practice it, I don\u2019t believe other conservatives should either.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Megan Basham is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and the entertainment reporter for The Daily Wire. In her previous role as an entertainment editor and podcast co-host for World Magazine, she interviewed numerous A-list celebrities. She has also written for The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and Townhall. Her book, Beside Every Successful Man, was published by Random House.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>member<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the news broke that Ellen DeGeneres would be ending her eponymous talk show after 19 seasons amid a drumbeat of accusations alleging a hostile work environment on set, there\u2019s &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2278084,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1179869189.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Ellen\u2019s Exit and Why Conservatives Should Pause Before Rejoicing","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-504771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1179869189.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Ellen\u2019s Exit and Why Conservatives Should Pause Before Rejoicing","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2278084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}