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Ellen DeGeneres’s Netflix special is bizarre, unfunny and self-pitying

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Ellen DeGeneres’s Netflix special is bizarre, unfunny and self-pitying


In 2020, a Los Angeles-based Twitter comedian promised to donate two dollars to a food bank for every “insane story” he received about Ellen DeGeneres “being mean”. Six hundred dollars later, the platform had become a hotbed of unverified tales of the apparently super-friendly star rampaging through shops, restaurants, studio backlots and down the corridors of her eponymous talk show. The queen of nice? More like Godzilla with a pixie cut, the stories claimed. Satan in sneakers. A grinning tyrant armed with nothing but a Lizzo CD and nasty intentions.

Four years later, the Ellen show is dead, brought to an undignified close following a behind-the-scenes investigation into allegations of a toxic workplace. And DeGeneres herself has dropped off the celebrity radar, having admitted to occasionally being “sad, mad, anxious, frustrated and impatient”, but denying ever being outright mean. What a strange pseudo-end to more than three decades in showbiz, you might think. That America’s most famous gay woman, who’d long been the face of queer respectability in the mainstream, could be so violently undone by her own hubris.

But if you were to be generous, the “secretly mean” hubbub could have been a real opportunity for DeGeneres to get her bite back. Rather than be shackled to the persona of a milquetoast and inoffensive Obama-era funny lady, she could turn inwards, grapple with her mistakes, and start anew.

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Or there is option B, which is to buy some pet chickens, film a Netflix stand-up special, and tell the world that, actually, it was everyone else who was wrong the whole time. For Your Approval, which is streaming now, is a bizarre, unfunny and self-pitying missed opportunity. DeGeneres has stated that it’s her swan song, or a goodbye from showbusiness on her own terms. But it is frustratingly clean, devoid of any real anger or regret, and refuses to depict its star as anything other than an unfairly condemned martyr.

This is partly a result of the context: For Your Approval seems to have been recorded in front of a pre-selected audience of supporters, if not of Ellen fans then at least of Ellen friends. Oprah Winfrey is glimpsed cackling from the crowd at one point, while an enormous cheer goes up after DeGeneres mentions her chat show’s executive producer Andy Lassner – a name absolutely no one outside of DeGeneres’s inner circle will recognise.

It’s a decision that not only wraps DeGeneres in cotton wool, but indirectly speaks to one of the problems with her old talk show that she clearly hasn’t come to terms with – that this was a woman who presented as being one of us, but who really wasn’t. Over time, the gap between DeGeneres and us mere mortals at home went from a short leap to a chasm. You can only hear so many stories about Ellen fraternising with Jennifer Aniston or George W Bush before beginning to suspect she lives on a different planet.

Much of For Your Approval trades in the same anodyne observational comedy that made DeGeneres so agreeable if unchallenging in the first place. There is an extended bit on parallel parking and the trouble with modern windshield wipers, which is indeed about as funny as it sounds. Likewise she expresses her disappointment with pigeons.

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Back in action: DeGeneres during ‘For Your Approval’

Back in action: DeGeneres during ‘For Your Approval’ (Netflix)

Of course, DeGeneres knows why you’re really here. It’s there in the special’s mortifying opening scene, in which a misty-eyed and terrified-looking DeGeneres stares directly into the camera while archive footage of her career and its loud implosion is projected onto her dressing room mirror. “I got kicked out of showbusiness because I’m mean,” she announces to her audience early on, before adding an ironic zinger: “And you can’t be mean and be in showbusiness.”

Missing, though, is any real explanation as to why she was “kicked out”. DeGeneres’s exodus is framed as a strange and mysterious thing that merely happened to her, and not something partly – or entirely – set in motion by her alleged behaviour. She suggests that the wind simply changed one day – the people “decided” she was mean, and that, really, she just wasn’t cut out to run a daily talk show, anyway.

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Her conclusion, somewhat inevitably, is that she simply #Girlbossed too close to the sun. Whereas men can manage and delegate forcefully and angrily, she says, women in positions of power have to be kind and placating. Anything that disrupts that unspoken agreement is frowned upon – and it was this, she insists, that got people’s backs up. “I’m honest, I’m generous, I’m sensitive and I’m thoughtful,” she says at the end of her 70-minute set. “I’m tough, I’m impatient and I’m demanding. I’m direct. I’m a strong woman.” The moment is cookie-cutter, second-wave feminist and cloyingly neo-liberal by design – I half expected P!nk to fly out on a trapeze to echo the sentiment.

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Wistful thinking: DeGeneres prepares to take the stage in ‘For Your Approval’

Wistful thinking: DeGeneres prepares to take the stage in ‘For Your Approval’ (Netflix)

You wonder if DeGeneres’s resolute defensiveness is a product of the criticism she’s faced in the past. In 1997, upon coming out as gay, she lost her self-titled sitcom and was largely exiled from pop culture until the debut of her talk show in 2003. DeGeneres draws numerous parallels between that experience and what’s happened to her recent years, as if they were fuelled by the same impulse.

But it’s a wildly confusing comparison; one was fuelled by undeniable prejudice, the other by far more complicated allegations. By linking them together, it suggests DeGeneres has placed all forms of criticism under the same umbrella, and that for all the references she makes to being prickly and complicated – and not the “one-dimensional character who gave stuff away and danced every day” – she’s truthfully learnt little in her time off television.

For Your Approval renders DeGeneres an unimpeachable victim to an angry mob, her failings largely inconsequential, her imminent departure from the spotlight a tragedy. “Look what you’ve done,” it seems to insist. “And look at what we’ve now lost.”

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‘Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval’ is streaming on Netflix



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Sundari – Promo | 24 Sep 2024 | Tamil Serial | Sun TV

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Sundari - Promo | 24 Sep 2024 | Tamil Serial | Sun TV



Watch the Latest Promo of popular Tamil Serial #Sundari that airs on Sun TV.

Watch all Sun TV serials immediately after the TV telecast on Sun NXT app. *Free for Indian Users only

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With courage, Sundari defies obstacles to realize her IAS dream & takes charge as the collector. Can she keep custody of Thamizh, with the child’s father, Karthi, in the picture? Follow her journey as love & duty get pitted against each other.

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Strictly’s Sam Quek reveals secret fall during first live dance | Culture

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Strictly



Strictly Come Dancing contestant Sam Quek has revealed that she subtly took a tumble during her first dance on the BBC show last Saturday.

The former England hockey player, 35, danced the foxtrot with professional partner Nikita Kuzmin to “Where Did Our Love Go” by Diana Ross.

Speaking on It Takes Two with Fleur East on Tuesday (24 September), she confessed that she made a mistake during the routine, which went unnoticed by Kuzmin — who later expressed his shock.

“I didn’t even realise,” Kuzmin admitted.

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Billie Eilish – TV // Español + English

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Billie Eilish - TV // Español + English



#billieeilish #tv #TikTokSong
Billie Eilish – TV (Traducida/Subtitulada al Español)
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Espero les haya encantado el vídeo, gracias a todos por ver y apoyar mi contenido, recuerden tomar awa y respirar aire, los quiero mucho ♥

► Este vídeo es con fines meramente de diversión y entretenimiento, los beneficios van hacia la disquera del artista.

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Strictly star Kristina Rihanoff confesses she ‘pushed’ daughter, eight, to dance for 12 HOURS in one day for competition

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Strictly star Kristina Rihanoff confesses she ‘pushed’ daughter, eight, to dance for 12 HOURS in one day for competition


STRICTLY star Kristina Rihanoff has confessed she “pushed” her daughter, eight, to dance for 12 HOURS in one day for a competition.

The dancer, who quit the BBC show in 2015, shares her only child with her fiance Ben Cohen.

Kristina Rihanoff and Ben Cohen's daughter is following in her mum's dancing footsteps

5

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Kristina Rihanoff and Ben Cohen’s daughter is following in her mum’s dancing footstepsCredit: Instagram / krihanoff
The dancer met her finance Ben Cohen on Strictly

5

The dancer met her finance Ben Cohen on StrictlyCredit: Handout
The couple share daughter Mila together

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The couple share daughter Mila togetherCredit: Instagram / krihanoff

Kristina and the former rugby ace met when they were partnered for the 11th series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, and fell in love.

They then welcomed their daughter Mila in 2016, before getting engaged in the Maldives in 2022.

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Now it seems their daughter is following in mum’s footsteps and becoming a dancer.

However, Kristina has admitted that she “pushes” Mila to do her best.

In August, her only child won Juvenile Ballroom & Latin Soloist Of The Year at a prestigious ceremony.

She then revealed how, at another competition, Mila danced from 8am to 8am to 8pm almost non-stop.

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Speaking to this week’s Close magazine, the former Strictly star said: “She was incredible and had around 140 dances.

“I did feel a bit of guilt as a dance mum, pushing her to dance for 12 hours, but she was fine.”

Kristina added: “Afterwards she was doing somersaults and headstands – I was exhausted just watching her!”

Meanwhile, yesterday it was revealed how Kristina and Ben had put their £1.75millon house up for sale after revealing they’re fighting to save their marriage.

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Ben Cohen ‘fighting to save relationship & home’ with Strictly star, court told

They’ve been plagued with relationship and financial woes, which they laid bare in court.

Now, their family home in Sywell has been put up for sale, the MailOnline reports.

The couple bought their Northamptonshire home in 2016 and put it up for sale on September 19.

The sale of the house comes after their money troubles were brought to light, following the Covid pandemic in 2020.

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It was recently revealed how Kristina and Ben are fighting to save their marriage

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It was recently revealed how Kristina and Ben are fighting to save their marriageCredit: Getty – Contributor
Ben and Kristina laid bare their financial woes recently

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Ben and Kristina laid bare their financial woes recentlyCredit: Instagram/krihanoff

Rugby World Cup winner Ben also recently appeared alongside Kristina after she was caught driving her £30,000 Audi Q3 without insurance.

During a hearing at Northampton Crown Court Ben said he had ignored a text message from his insurance company.

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He confirmed that he had been solely responsible for sourcing insurance for the couple’s cars.

The court was told that Mr Cohen had been searching for cheaper insurance online at the end of February after being quoted £7,500 by Aviva.

The court also heard they had set up several businesses, including a Yoga studio, which had suffered as a result of Covid.

Ben said: “I get up every day and I fight not to lose everything – to lose my cars and my house and my relationship. I’m so overdrawn.”

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When questioned about the strains on his and Kristina’s relationship, he said: “We’re still living together.”

BEN COHEN AND KRISTINA RHIANOFF’S ROCKY RELATIONSHIP

The couple had met when they were partnered for the 11th series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, and fell in love.

This was despite Cohen being married at the time to Abby Bray.

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Cohen and Rihanoff share daughter Mila, and had planned to tie the knot in Tuscany or Oxfordshire.

He told Hello! Magazine in 2023: “Over the last nine years we’ve been through the wringer.

“To support each other through difficult times in business is the ultimate test in a relationship.

“I’ve watched her flourish, from her becoming a mum to growing as a businesswoman, and it has strengthened our bond.”

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The pair previously revealed they got engaged during a sun-soaked Maldives getaway in 2022. 



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Monsters star sympathizes with Menendez brothers amid series backlash

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Monsters star sympathizes with Menendez brothers amid series backlash


Nicholas Chavez, one of the stars of Ryan Murphy’s new true crime drama, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, has shared his sympathies with the series’ subjects.

The nine-part Netflix show centers on the gruesome 1989 murders of José and Kitty Menendez by their sons, Lyle and Erik, portrayed by Chavez and Cooper Koch, respectively.

Speaking to People at the New York premiere of Murphy’s other new series, Grotesquerie, Chavez said: “I really sympathize with the brothers, the fact that this was the most traumatic moment of their life, and then having that put on television for the world to see. I would imagine that would be incredibly heavy.”

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Of the show’s varied reception, he added: “It’s sensitive subject matter and I imagine that everyone is forming their own interpretations of what happened as we imagined and intended that they would.”

Chavez’s remarks come shortly after the real-life Erik Menendez, who is currently serving a life sentence at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in California alongside Lyle, accused Murphy of releasing “disheartening slander.”

“I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show. I can only believe they were done so on purpose,” Erik, 53, said in a statement shared to X via his wife Tammi.

The series includes the harrowing sexual abuse that Lyle and Erik alleged to have been perpetrated by their father, José (Javier Bardem).

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Cooper Koch as Erik and Nicholas Chavez as Lyle in ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’

Cooper Koch as Erik and Nicholas Chavez as Lyle in ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ (MILES CRIST/NETFLIX)

However, Erik has hit out at Netflix over its “dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime.” He said the series has “taken the painful truths several steps backward – back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women.”

“Those awful lies have been disputed and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander,” he said.

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Erik Menéndez (left) and his brother Lyle during a pre-trial hearing on 29 December 1992 in Los Angeles

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Erik Menéndez (left) and his brother Lyle during a pre-trial hearing on 29 December 1992 in Los Angeles (AFP via Getty Images)

Murphy has since responded to Erik’s claims, telling Entertainment Tonight: “Listen, I think it’s really, really hard if it’s your life to see your life up on screen. I think it’s been 30 years since that case – that’s hard.”

He added that “if you watch the show, I would say 60 to 65 percent” of the scripted narrative centers “around the abuse and what they claim happened to them. And we do it very carefully and we give them their day in court and they talk openly about it.”

“We present the facts from their point of view,” Murphy said. “We spent three years researching it – all of that is true.”

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is out now on Netflix.

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හිරු රාත්‍රී 9.55 ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රවෘත්ති විකාශය – Hiru TV NEWS 9:55 PM LIVE | 2024-09-23 | Hiru News

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හිරු රාත්‍රී 9.55 ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රවෘත්ති විකාශය - Hiru TV NEWS 9:55 PM LIVE | 2024-09-23 | Hiru News



හිරු රාත්‍රී 9.55 ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රවෘත්ති විකාශය – Hiru TV NEWS 9:55 PM LIVE | 2024-09-23 | Hiru News

This video was uploaded for news reporting purposes…

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