Sunday, November 11, 2007

Ellen Crosses the Line


No, I'm not talking about her and that dog. Ellen DeGeneres isn't honoring the writer's strike. From MTV.com:

Ellen DeGeneres has also made her feelings about the strike known — she has crossed the picket line, People reports. While her talk-show peers have taken an indefinite hiatus, the TV host is continuing to film her daytime program, "Ellen." She skipped her monologue on Friday (November 9), saying she was doing so in honor of her writers. As for the rest of the show continuing, she qualified on her show, "It's sweeps, which is a very important time in television, because that's when you do your best shows, your funniest material." The Writers Guild of America responded to DeGeneres on Friday, saying it was "extremely disappointed to see that Ellen has chosen not to stand with writers during the strike," according to UsMagazine.com. "Ellen's peers who host comedy/variety shows have chosen to support the writers and help them get a fair contract, Ellen has not. On her first show back, Ellen said she loves and supports her writers, but her actions prove otherwise." ...
Guess I won't be watching her show anymore.

The WGAE (Writer's Guild of America East) wrote this blistering letter in response to Ellen's actions:

"We find it sad that Ellen spent an entire week crying and fighting for a dog that she gave away, yet she couldn't even stand by writers for more than one day -- writers who have helped make her extremely successful," the letter said. "We ask Ellen to cease doing shows immediately."

6 comments:

dirtyword.net said...

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Show your support for the writers!

Anonymous said...

Oh fer fucks sake, Ellen has a huge heart, she spent like a week crying on TV for Igby the dog.

It's not like a bunch of writers and their families are as helpless (or important to Ellen) as a dog.

Sky Bluesky said...

That's my point, sue. She has a huge heart, she obviously cares a great deal about a number of issues. She loves kids, she loves kittens, she loves puppies, blah blah blah. But she wouldn't be where she is without the help of her writers, so she should be standing up to support them.

Nobody's saying that writers are as helpless as dogs. And no one wants Ellen to run to their rescue like she does dogs, by adopting them or moving them into her home or feeding them biscuits. This is a labor dispute in which she has some stake. She should care about her writers' well-being, since she benefits from their output.

If she doesn't, fine. She can write shows five days a week by herself.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, should have *inserted sarcasm here* on the first comment.

FYI I adore your writing.

Sky Bluesky said...

Oh.

Well, never mind the rant, then. Thanks for the kind words!

Nicola O. said...

Oh, fer the luvva...

Not that I watched Ellen before, but geez louise.