Margaret Cho isn’t holding back when it comes to her long-standing issues with Ellen DeGeneres.
In a recent appearance on The Kelly Mantle Show, the 56-year-old comedian said Ellen has been “really weird and not nice” to her for decades – despite their early history in stand-up together.
Margaret recalled opening for Ellen in the 1980s when Ellen was already a big name on the comedy circuit. So when Margaret started appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the 2000s, she was taken aback when Ellen acted like they’d never met.
“Ellen was really weird and not nice to me for most of my career,” Margaret said bluntly. “I opened for her in the 1980s, when she was a headliner in comedy clubs. Later, when I would do her talk show in the 2000s, she would act like we just met. And I’m like, ‘B****, what?’ That’s weird. We go way back. It’s so creepy and weird.”
One moment that really stung for Cho involved none other than David Bowie. After attending one of his concerts in a dramatic “Chinese emperor outfit,” Margaret said Bowie was so impressed that he praised her look during his appearance on Ellen’s show the next day. But Cho never got to see that moment – it was cut from the final broadcast.
“It made me so mad,” she said. “The producer, who was a really good friend of mine, had to call and tell me, ‘I can’t believe she did this but she cut it out of the show. But you need to know that he was going on and on about your outfit! God said your name.’”
Cho admitted she doesn’t know why the moment was removed – maybe it was for time, maybe not. But she took it personally, saying, “[It’s] so rude! I don’t know if it was personal, maybe it was [cut] for time. But still, I’m going to take it personally just because I decided to.”
Margaret Cho slams Ellen DeGeneres with zero hesitation, but she’s not the only one to voice past tensions with the talk show host. Rosie O’Donnell recently opened up about her own unresolved issues with Ellen. While she said there’s no malice, Rosie admitted that they’ve had friction for years and never really patched things up.
“I don’t want to fight against another gay woman,” Rosie told Us Weekly. “We have had some stuff in the past that we never resolved. And not in any way as partners or lovers or anything like that, just as friends and comedians, but I wish her the best. I seriously do.”
With both Cho and O’Donnell speaking out, the image of Ellen DeGeneres as Hollywood’s friendly daytime icon continues to unravel.
