Margaret Cho: Ellen DeGeneres 'Not Nice to Me for Most of My Career'
Margaret Cho is speaking out about her experience with Ellen DeGeneres, claiming that her fellow comedian and talk show host has been “really weird” and “not nice” to her over the course of their careers.
In an interview on “The Kelly Mantle Show,” Cho said DeGeneres is “somebody that I’ve known for such a long time” and “the public perception of her is more true” now. DeGeneres experienced a fall from grace back in 2020 after toxic workplace allegations emerged about “The Ellen Show,” culminating in its end in 2022 and DeGeneres’ retirement. Cho said she’s known DeGeneres since they were both starting out in the stand-up comedy scene in the ’80s.
“She’s mean,” Cho said. “She was like, a mean girl. But also she would be real nice. I think she always had kind of negative feelings towards me because her girlfriends and wives always liked me.”
She continued, “Ellen was really weird and not nice to me for most of my career. I opened for her in the 1980s, when she was a headliner in comedy clubs and way before her big fame. So then later, when I would do her talk show in the 2000s, she acted like we just met.”
“And I’m like, bitch, what? Like, that’s weird,” Cho said. “We go way back. It’s so creepy and weird.”
A representative for DeGeneres did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
Cho also has beef regarding a David Bowie appearance on “The Ellen Show.” “The night before, I had come to his show wearing this giant Chinese emperor outfit. He was really thrilled about it and he talked at length about it. And she cut it out of the show, which made me so mad,” Cho said.
“The producer, who is a really good friend of mine, had to call me and tell me, ‘I can’t believe she did this, she cut it out of the show. But you need to know, that he was going on and on about your outfit. He loves you. God said your name,'” she continued.
“I don’t know if it was personal, maybe it was for time,” Cho added. “But still, I’m going to take it personally just because I decided to.”
Watch Cho’s full conversation on “The Kelly Mantle Show” below.