Ellen DeGeneres Plays Victim Card in 'For Your Approval'

Ellen DeGeneres risked plenty when she came out both on and off camera.

That’s no joke.

The comic used her ’90s “Ellen” sitcom to take a stand for gay rights. At the time, an actress faced serious repercussions for simply being seen with an openly gay star like DeGeneres. The late Anne Heche learned that lesson in the cruelest way possible.

Against all odds, DeGeneres emerged triumphant. By the time she snagged her eponymous talk show she was one of Hollywood’s comedy heavyweights.

That was then.

Today, she’s scarred from the behind-the-scenes scandal that ended her talk show. Her new Netflix comedy special, “For Your Approval,” lets her talk directly to fans about the fallout for the first time.

No media filter.

It’s neither a full confession nor a hilarious riff on life post-scandal. Call it damage control.

Anyone expecting a full-throated apology will be disappointed. So will fans craving first-class comedy.

She seems off throughout the special, delivering punchlines beneath her considerable talents. Even subjects she tees up with authority lack the snap of her previous gags.

That’s not the worst part.

She plays The VictimTM rather than tackle her problems head on. 

Much of the material could have been airlifted from her previous stand-up appearances. Gentle riffs on gardening, chickens and truth telling are squarely in her wheelhouse, even if the results disappoint.

It’s like an A.I. version of an Ellen DeGeneres special. A routine tied to hard-to-read menus, by comparison, hits the mark like vintage Ellen.

if you invite @ellendegeneres to a party after 9pm, chances are, she won’t be there
???? Ellen Degeneres: For Your Approval now playing only on Netflix pic.twitter.com/C8OORWDBOJ

— Netflix Is A Joke (@NetflixIsAJoke) September 27, 2024

“For Your Approval” eventually gets to The Scandal, the start of a monologue that finds her alternately denying bad behavior and blaming it on sexism.

“You can’t be mean and be in show business,” she says, a line that’s both funny and cutting. Cruelty is commonplace behind the scenes, something we’ve learned in recent years with scandals tied to Harvey Weinstein, producer Scott Rudin and more.

She has a point. She also has an axe to grind.

It’s not her fault that she presided over a deeply dysfunctional work environment. Nor that, according to Megyn Kelly, she instructed colleagues not to look her in the eye. She preached kindness but couldn’t walk the walk.

She’s a girl. A lesbian girl, to be exact.

She finds some humor in her downfall, but she pivots to a defensive crouch. 

“Women are raised in a different way …  I was taught when I was a little girl to be small and quiet and agreeable,” she said. “I’m exactly the opposite of how I was raised to be.”

Huge applause. So being a terrible person is … empowering?

She then recalls being “kicked out of show business” for being gay. It’s not exactly what happened in the ’90s, but she did face severe cultural headwinds. She was truly stunning and brave then.

Not now.

Now, she pretends being a lesbian in 2024 will hurt your brand in Hollywood. Now, that’s funny.

She couldn’t make a comeback if she tried, she suggested.

“Mean, old and gay … the triple crown,” the 66-year-old snarked.

The banter seems defensive, designed to address her image more than make us laugh. The crowd is there for it all, clapping maniacally as if she were a late-night host on Election Day.

There is an overwhelming amount of applause breaks in ‘For Your Approval,’ Ellen DeGeneres’s Netflix stand-up comedy special. So many that we had to count them. https://t.co/r8KOrxEHx8

— New York Magazine (@NYMag) September 25, 2024

She claims she didn’t know how to be a boss, that as a woman she couldn’t command a team like a man might. Her many bonding attempts fizzled out.

The latter came via a series of jokes that started out weakly and got progressively worse. if you can’t come clean about the scandal, why not just move on to … jokes? Louis C.K. did something similar, and his transgressions were far worse.

Later, DeGeneres talks about her ADD and OCD, conditions that lead to gentle musings and more victimhood riffs. The latter means she just cares too much about saving dogs, for example.

Turns out the special’s title wasn’t a cute marketing choice. She craves approval.

She’s hardly alone. Many stars entertain us for that reason, addressing a gap left by challenging childhoods or other emotional wounds. We know comedians can be imperfect. We love them anyway for making us forget our troubles. 

“I’m a strong woman,” she says at the end of the special. More whoops, hollers and applause. It goes on and on. Literally.

Maybe watching her show, and possibly her career, collapse, stiffened her spine.

She still lacks the courage to own up to her scandal.