The most awkward moments on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’

Ellen DeGeneres announced the end of her daytime talk show on Wednesday. While the show will be remembered for its funny bits, charitable moments of giving and plenty more, the show’s 19-year run is also be marred by its awkward moments.

Here’s a list of some of the most cringeworthy interviews:

JUSTIN BIEBER

In November 2015, Ellen had Justin Bieber on her show. On television, the two are typically seen as close friends, but on this episode, their conversation was more uncomfortable than friendly. Prior to Bieber’s appearance, a new paparazzi photo of him was released showing the then 21-year-old nude while on vacation. Ellen displayed the censored version of the photo on the giant screen behind her for Bieber to explain what happened.

WENDY WILLIAMS

Less than a year later, Ellen brought on daytime talk show host Wendy Williams. The negative energy between these two was palpable and it showed. When speaking with Williams, Ellen was much less of her quirky and extroverted self and let Williams take most of the time of their interview. The interview quickly shifted toward the two playing Ellen’s popular game “Head’s Up” in which Williams was tasked with acting out a celebrity that Ellen could guess. Justin Bieber came up again and Williams delivered a cringeworthy remark mid-game.

TAYLOR SWIFT

Despite the fact that Taylor Swift has a lot to talk about, especially considering the level of musical talent she possesses and the Grammys to go with it, over the course of her career, many have been razor-focused on her love life. Swift has had a long history of dating, and Ellen thought it would be comical to bring that up on her show in the form of a game involving a cowbell. As the list grew longer, Swift became more uncomfortable and begged for the game to end. This segment was hard to watch.

CAITLYN JENNER

Before announcing her surprise run for California governor, Ellen had trans activist Caitlyn Jenner on her show to discuss a variety of topics. One of the topics that came up was same-sex marriage, an obviously important topic for Ellen as she herself is lesbian. Jenner is openly conservative and during their conversation, Ellen pointed this out in a seemingly offensive way. Before making her gender transition, Jenner was openly against same-sex marriage before her views changed. Ellen, however, still challenged Jenner to see if her views really did change and the tension was palpable.

DAKOTA JOHNSON

In 2019, following her 30th birthday, Dakota Johnson was featured as a guest on “Ellen.” The interview opened with Ellen asking about her birthday party and remarking that she wasn’t invited. Johnson immediately clapped back to Ellen saying that she was invited to the party but just failed to show up. She also mentioned how in previous appearances, Ellen had given her “s—” about not being invited to previous parties she held. Ellen was visibly stunned by this whole situation and certainly audiences in the studio and watching at home felt similarly shocked.

SOFIA VERGARA

Sofia Vergara and Ellen are typically regarded as being close friends based on the interactions the two have shared over the years. However, in one appearance, Ellen and Vergara played a game that seemingly attacked Vergara’s accent by forcing her to say words she obviously would not say as they are intended to sound. The interaction is humiliating to say the least and hard to watch.

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