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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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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

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Monsters creator Ryan Murphy defends himself from Erik Menendez’s criticism

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Monsters creator Ryan Murphy denies Erik Menendez’s claims show has ‘inaccuracies’


Ryan Murphy has responded to Erik Menendez’s accusation that his Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is “dishonest”.

The Menendez brothers were convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Kitty. They were arrested for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder outside their home in March 1990 and sentenced to life in prison in 1996. In 2024, new evidence emerged that has the potential to set them free.

Erik Menendez, who is serving a life sentence at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in California alongside Lyle, has claimed Murphy’s series, starring Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch, does not accurately portray their crime, and accused the creator of releasing “disheartening slander”.

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Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Murphy defended the Netflix series, saying: “I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show. I know he hasn’t seen the show in prison. I hope he does see the show.”

Monsters includes the harrowing sexual abuse that Lyle and Erik alleged to have been perpetrated by their father José (Javier Bardem) but Erik Menendez has accused Murphy of distorting the truth.

Murphy responded: “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 per cent” of the scripted narrative centres “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.”

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‘Monster’ creator Ryan Murphy at the Golden Globes in 2023

‘Monster’ creator Ryan Murphy at the Golden Globes in 2023 (Getty Images)

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

In his statement, shared to X/Twitter, Menendez said: “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.

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“It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.

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“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have 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.

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

Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ (Getty/Netflix)

“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 continued: “Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma. Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic.

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“As such, I hope it is never forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamour and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved. To all those who have reached out and supported me, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”



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The Future of TV is Bleak

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The Future of TV is Bleak



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“How to be a Writer on Set” PDF – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TGJm_r0HL-NlQTdo9qErehpA7fNorL2Y/view
“The Watch” podcast talking about the strike – https://open.spotify.com/episode/5BSuXtdI7lwNwc5IHjXhIs?si=a4471d834fbf47e4
Why writers should be on sets – https://twitter.com/serathegamble/status/1654968707087736832?s=20
Twitter threads about minimum staff size – https://twitter.com/griddlecakes/status/1655741027343536129?s=20
https://twitter.com/OKBJGM/status/1655076082499084288?s=20
Residuals Survival Guide – https://www.wga.org/members/finances/residuals/residuals-survival-guide
Misc threads/links – https://twitter.com/jonrog1/status/1653280876753719296?s=20
https://movieweb.com/quantum-of-solace-writers-strike-daniel-craig/
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/michael-bay-transformers-2-regret/
https://www.cbr.com/heroes-wga-strike-house-of-the-dragon/
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23244509

merch:
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Manamagale Vaa – Best Scenes | 23 Sep 2024 | Tamil Serial | Sun TV

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Manamagale Vaa - Best Scenes | 23 Sep 2024 | Tamil Serial | Sun TV



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Narmada’s mission to her ancestral village to reunite her father & his estranged family entwines with Kathir’s task of finding suitable grooms for his three sisters. What unfolds when they fall in love, striving for a cause against the same enemy?

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Whoopi Goldberg says Janet Jackson deserves ‘a little grace’ following backlash from Kamala Harris comments

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Whoopi Goldberg and The View hosts spar over Janet Jackson’s Kamala Harris remarks


The View hosts have weighed in on Janet Jackson’s recent controversial remarks regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’s racial identity.

In a new interview with The Guardian, the singer and sister of Michael Jackson regurgitated a false claim made by Donald Trump that Harris is not Black.

“She’s not Black. That’s what I heard. That she’s Indian,” Jackson said, admitting that although she hadn’t “watched the news in a few days,” she was told somebody had “discovered [Harris’s] father was white.”

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“What she did was spread misinformation,” host Ana Navarro said on the latest episode of the daytime talk show. “I think it’s irresponsible when you have a platform the way Janet Jackson does, to use that platform carelessly to spread misinformation based on a racist allegation by Donald Trump. It was Donald Trump who tried to say Kamala Harris just turned Black.”

Last month, Trump made headlines when he made the unhinged assertation that Harris only recently “became a Black woman” to suit her political agenda.

Whoopi Goldberg, meanwhile, stepped in to defend Jackson. “You know, sometimes I’ve said stuff. And you know, I was wrong. But people want you to say something right away. You know, when people are coming at you saying, ‘Hey, you’re not paying – you’re dumb, you don’t know’ – you don’t want to answer people,” she said.

“And it is a pain in the butt, I have to tell you. Sometimes people get it wrong and they’re wrong, they made a mistake, they were wrong, it happens. Anybody who says it doesn’t happen to every one of us, multiracial or not, we all do it. So, okay, a little grace for the girl, alright?” Goldberg said, arguing that Jackson is “a musician,” not “a political animal.”

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While Navarro acknowledged that Jackson has the “right to endorse, support, or not support” whomever she chooses, she noted that the singer has still not yet owned up to her mistake.

“We forget that we live in information silos. This is so different from how the media was even 10 years ago,” Alyssa Farah Griffin added. “My guess is she’s not looking at great sources of media.”

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Whoopi Goldberg reminded her co-hosts that Jackson is ‘not a political animal’

Whoopi Goldberg reminded her co-hosts that Jackson is ‘not a political animal’ (Getty Images)

Sunny Hostin went on to say that “regardless of whether Janet Jackson thinks she’s Black, white, or Indian, the very fact that she’s in the room deconstructs, in my view, the alleged societal norms we’ve seen in the nearly 250 years of this country of what a presidential candidate looks like.”

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“I think that’s what matters most, and I think that when you’re biracial or multiracial, you do get to identify yourself in any way you choose to identify yourself,” Hostin, who is biracial, continued. “It’s unfortunate that Janet Jackson, an icon, admittedly said, ‘I don’t know, I haven’t been reading the news these past few days.’ I don’t know if it comes from misinformation, I don’t know if it comes from a lack of information, all I know is I don’t want to give it this much air.”

Yesterday, it emerged that Jackson’s apparent “apology” for her comments about Harris was not authorized by the “That’s the Way Love Goes” singer.

It was widely reported by several outlets that Janet had issued an apology through a man named Mo Elmasari, who claimed to be her manager.

However, it has since been corrected that Jackson is, in fact, managed by her brother, Randy, and that the unusually worded “apology” did not come from Jackson.

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