IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK: The “Be Kind” Queen is back – but is she really?

Love her or hate her, we’ve all been waiting to see how Ellen Degenerous would make her grand debut following what can only be described as one PR disaster after another. This week we finally got our answer!

The beloved American TV chat show host experienced a vicious fall from grace after allegations of misconduct from former employees of the ELLEN show began to spread like wildfire. Between a toxic work environment to then accusations of sexual harassment from top producers to which Ellen turned a blind eye to, it’s safe to say the world’s leading “kindness spreader” had finally lost that squeaky clean image of hers!

I remember as a kid watching the Ellen show on my sick days from school and thinking WOW! – is there really anyone kinder in this world than her? As a prominent gay, liberal and LGBTQI activist, Ellen Degenerous quickly became a role model for anyone and everyone throughout this world including myself. To add to that, if I had to choose five people to join me for dinner, with that witty sense of humour she was definitely one of them!

As I reach the one-year mark at InsideOut PR however, I now know the importance of maintaining that positive image as it’s just not that simple to bounce back. Ellen’s apology which graced our screens this week received a barrage of backlash and was labelled inappropriate by former employees due to her sarcastic jokes. Although I do admire Ellen for addressing the scandal head on and for even coming back to TV at all, the age old saying goes – actions speak louder than words so I guess we’ll all have to stay tuned!

By Sarah Meenan – PR and Influencer Executive at InsideOut PR and #AsSeenON