"Somebody needed to say it": Kalen Allen thinks this comment he made to Ellen led to her cutting off contact

Kalen Allen and Ellen DeGeneres (Photo: YouTube/Shutterstock)

Actor and comedian Kalen Allen has been talking about his experience of working with Ellen DeGeneres. He also revealed that he and DeGeneres hadn’t spoken in “a very long time,” following the end of her talk show.

Allen, 30, found viral fame in 2017 with his videos in which he reacted to bizarre food recipes he discovered online.

He was invited as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2018 and was offered a guest contributor slot. He has since landed acting roles, judging slots on several reality shows, and podcasting gigs.

Allen appeared this week on the It’s Tea Time podcast with Raven-Symoné and her wife, Miranda Pearman-Maday.

He recounts landing the Ellen job when he was only 21, and still in college. He went from being broke to receiving his first paycheck of $30,000, which he promptly blew in a shopping splurge.

“The best time of my life”

The hosts asked Allen, who is gay, about his experiences on the Ellen Show.

“For me, it was the best time of my life,” Allen replies, without hesitation. “And I know it’s hard for people to hear that. What I always try to also preface to people is that we are experiencing it in real life. We know these people as people, not as celebrities.”

“Another thing about it is the place was a tough place to work. But everywhere in Hollywood is a tough place to work. I also understand that I was ‘talent’ there. They treated me like a king. You know what I mean? And it was mainly because of her.”

He continues, “I’ll never forget the second time I was on the show, and she said this in front of everybody, crew and everybody. She said, ‘Whatever you want to do, we’ll do it.’ That changed it. I watched the way people changed the way that they moved.”

He acknowledges he had a position of privilege on the show (including “a private parking spot!”), and that expressing his experience doesn’t invalidate other people’s.

“I never treated her like a celebrity”

Although his own time was positive, he goes on to suggest that it’s hard for anyone to stay grounded when they’re in DeGeneres’ position.

“But I also understood that the culture of the show was what it was because the people that ran it and … you got to realize that woman was walking out every day to people who were obsessed with her. Like it was unlike anything I had ever f–king seen. There’s just no way you could live in that and it not get here,” he adds, waving toward his head.

“It’s impossible! And I think people around her, she didn’t really realize that they were using her. They were taking advantage of her celebrity, and she was letting the Hollywood of it all take control.”

Allen says that although he sometimes found Ellen “socially awkward,” he felt they got along.

“I also think that’s why we had such a close relationship, because I never treated her like a celebrity. I was never there trying to just get something.”

“You are letting other people ruin your legacy”

Miranda goes on to recount a story about how she was once on a set and was informed not to make eye contact with one particular star. Instead, when the unnamed star arrived, she went up to him, welcomed him to the set, and told him to let her know if they needed anything. Subsequently, the star let it be known they only wanted to interact with Miranda going forward. Miranda was left wondering if the “no eye contact” rule had actually come from the star or the team around them.

Allen nods in empathy with this and recalls his own opinion on some of the teams that work around big stars.

“I’m going to give y’all some tea. Ellen and I have not talked in a very long time. Because I told her, I said, ‘You are letting other people ruin your legacy’.”

“You told her the truth … And she didn’t like that?” asks Raven.

“I don’t think she could take it. She couldn’t understand it because I think that she considers the people around her to be all that she has. And I think she couldn’t take it because she felt like, ‘but this is all I got.’ And if I give this up…’ like, she can’t go to Walmart. She can’t go to Target. She can’t do regular things.”

“I understood that she couldn’t, but I knew somebody needed to say it. And even if she didn’t get it then, maybe years later, when she looks back, and she’s gotten out of the hurt, maybe she can look back and be like, ‘Ah!’”

Queerty has reached out to representatives for Ellen for comment.

You can watch the entire interview below. The discussion about Ellen is at the 28.29 mark.

Internet reacts

On social media, many expressed some sympathy for Ellen and welcomed Allen’s comments.

“Maybe Ellen made some mistakes, sure, but what made me sad is that the people determined to get her cancelled never thought about the thousands who’d go jobless without her show, the thousands she helped every day on her show via gifts & cash, the thousands we don’t know anything about,” said one person.

“My husband was a bodyguard for her and he said he saw more good than bad,” said another, earning over 1.5k upticks.

“I never jumped on the hate Ellen train,” said another. “No one is perfect at the end of the day and so I like that. He [Allen] continues to speak nice of Ellen and not jump on the hate train because it’s more popular. I hope that Ellen has peace because she bought a lot of people Joy.”

Collateral damage

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ended in 2022 after almost 19 years on screens. Since then, DeGeneres and her wife, Portia DiRossi, have spent much of their time after relocating to the UK.

Last month, Allen guested on the With Love with Ty Cole podcast. He acknowledged the complaints that others have made about working on the Ellen show, and again said it was the opposite of his own experience.

“What I am grateful for is, while I was watching it and learning how to do it, I was also watching and learning how not to do it,” Allen said. “To see the good stuff but to also see the mistakes or the missteps. And I think it’s also very touchy for me because it felt like after it happened, it felt like it became a scarlet letter for all of us that worked at the show. It became so much about tearing her down, that people didn’t realize it was also really hurting everybody that was there.”

After the show ended, “It took forever for people to even book me for stuff. I couldn’t get a job,” he added.

“Devastating”

In her own 2024 stand-up special, Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval, DeGeneres addressed the controversy over the show and the allegations of a toxic work environment. She said she was “kicked out of show business” for being “mean.”

She also said she “hated the way the show ended” because she “loved that show so much.”

“I’m making jokes about what happened to me, but it was devastating,” she said. “It took a long time for me to want to do anything again.”