It wasn’t a laughing matter. In “For Your Approval,” which is touted as Ellen DeGenres’s final stand-up special , the comedian opened up about her controversies. “I got kicked out of show business because I’m mean,” DeGeneres, 66, told her audience.
“You can’t be mean and be in show business. They’ll kick you out. No mean people in show business.
” The special is streaming on Netflix and was taped last month at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theatre with a sold-out crowd that included her wife, Portia de Rossi, 51. In the special, DeGeneres joked that this was her second strike. “Kicked me out before because I told them I was out.
No gay people in show business. They kick you out. Can’t be gay and be in show business,” she said, referring to how her career took a hit when she famously came out as lesbian in 1997 on her ABC sitcom, “Ellen.
” “Eventually they’re going to kick me out a third time for being old — mean, old and gay, the triple crown,” she joked. The “Finding Dory” star also addressed her tarnished reputation and the rumors that she’s not nice . “Yeah, you all heard I was mean.
Everybody heard that I was mean. Everywhere I go, I know everyone’s heard that I’m mean,” she said. She continued, “I know when I walk into a restaurant, people are watching, waiting to see if I’ll be mean.
‘Do you think she’ll be mean first and then dance?’ ‘Oh, look, she’s reaching for butter. I thought she was going to hit somebody.