Adam Carolla Speaks Out: Claims Ellen DeGeneres Was “Always Mean” and Staff Were “Scared to Death” Behind the Scenes

Comedian and media personality Adam Carolla is pulling no punches in his latest comments about Ellen DeGeneres, reviving the long-simmering allegations of a toxic workplace that have plagued the former talk show host since 2020. During a candid appearance on The After Party with Emily Jashinsky podcast, Carolla reflected on his time as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show back in 2012—and what he saw behind the scenes, he says, left a lasting impression.

“When you do Leno,” Carolla began, referencing his appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, “Leno was fun and breezy and easy. People were nice, laid back, and they weren’t looking over their shoulder.” He went on to say that the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live!—hosted by his former Man Show cohost—had a similarly relaxed and welcoming vibe.

But then came Ellen.

Carolla didn’t mince words. “Ellen was different,” he said. “She’s always been a mean person. That’s the vibe I got. And more importantly, that’s the vibe her staff was living in.”

He recalled sitting in his dressing room before the taping of his segment when one of the show’s segment producers came in to review what they were going to talk about on-air. “It was standard stuff—Christmas vacation, light stuff,” Carolla said. But what struck him was the producer’s nervous energy. “Even after I confirmed I’d stick to the planned topics, he came back in again and said, ‘You’re not going to talk about meat or beef or anything like that, right?’”

Carolla was surprised. “I told him no—I wasn’t going to go off-script. But the guy looked terrified. And then he came back again just before I went out, reminding me once more: ‘Don’t talk about beef or meat.’” That kind of repeated warning, Carolla said, made it clear to him that the producer wasn’t just being cautious—he was afraid.

“I remember thinking, ‘This guy’s scared to death.’ And if he’s that scared, it’s because the environment has made him that way.”

The most damning part came later, after the taping. Carolla said a writer on the show, who he chose not to identify due to the writer’s non-disclosure agreement, confided in him directly: “Ellen’s the worst person I’ve ever met.”

Carolla’s comments come in the wake of years of public allegations that DeGeneres fostered a toxic workplace environment during the long run of her daytime talk show, which aired from 2003 to 2022. Starting in 2020, former staffers spoke out anonymously, alleging everything from racist behavior by senior producers to being told not to make eye contact with DeGeneres in the hallway.

DeGeneres addressed the backlash publicly and incorporated elements of it into her 2024 Netflix stand-up special Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval. In the special, DeGeneres joked about being labeled “mean,” saying: “I got kicked out of show business because I’m mean. Everyone’s heard it. I know when I walk into a restaurant, people are watching—waiting to see if I’ll be mean first and then dance.”

Despite her attempt to reframe the controversy with humor, the perception lingers. Carolla’s remarks revive the conversation at a time when DeGeneres has largely retreated from public life, reportedly moving to the U.K. after Donald Trump’s re-election last year.

Margaret Cho, another comedian, echoed Carolla’s sentiment in a past interview, stating that Ellen had “not been nice” to her for most of her career, describing their interactions as “creepy and weird.”

As of now, DeGeneres has not responded to Carolla’s claims, and her representatives have not issued a comment. But the timing of Carolla’s remarks—so long after his guest appearance—raises questions about what other former guests or staffers might still be holding back.

What’s clear is that, even after stepping away from her show, Ellen DeGeneres remains a lightning rod for controversy. And with voices like Carolla’s and Cho’s continuing to emerge, the public image she once carefully cultivated may never fully recover.