Ellen DeGeneres' new Netflix special branded 'self indulgent' and 'unfunny'

Ellen DeGeneres returns with a new Netflix special, and one she says is her last, which sees her address the elephant in the room — the allegations of a toxic workplace at her daytime talkshow.

In 2020 it was reported by Buzzfeed that DeGeneres presided over a "toxic" work environment that led to people hitting out at her "be kind" manta that she shared with viewers everyday. The comedian was reported to have sent an apologetic email to staff in the wake of the report, per The New York Times, and Ellen ran for two more years before it ended.

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The comedian, like many comics these days, uses the one-hour special to talk about being "cancelled" (not once, but twice) and why she feels she's been "kicked out of show business" as a result. But critics have derided the special, with some remarking that it is both "self-indulgent" and "unfunny".

Variety's Daniel D'Addario called the special "self-indulgent", writing that "it’s a spectacle of ego that seems at odds with the humble, just-folks demeanor DeGeneres shows on stage... there’s a discomfiting feeling of being stuck on a ride with someone who lives within her own mythology."

D'Addario was not amused by the special, arguing that DeGeneres made a choice to dance around the topic of workplace culture at her talkshow that "requires both nimbleness and a bit of nerve" and which made the special "a frustrating watch, and a bum note to go out on."

Time's Judy Berman was similarly disgruntled by the special, saying that while DeGeneres does address the allegations against her show it is "not in an especially revelatory or introspective or satisfying way" and that it is "not particularly funny, either."

Berman wrote: "If she was really so ready to talk about it—then the self-flattering revisionism of For Your Approval is a cop out."

"The problem with For Your Approval, aside from the fact that it is almost never funny, is that it feels so disingenuous, so calculated to rehabilitate an image and preserve that triumph for posterity," the critic added. "It’s less a comedy special, the best of which arrive at humor through honest insights, than a stump speech."

For The Daily Beast's Abigail Covington argued that DeGeneres "pulls double duty" by making For Your Approval a return to the spotlight and farewell special: "As a post-backlash final act, it would ideally contain both the zany, observational comedy that originally endeared us to DeGeneres and a smart, self-aware critique of the public reckoning she faced in the ninth inning of her career. The problem is that the latter has never been DeGeneres’s strong suit."

The critic added: "Consequently, her attempt to address the controversy lacks the depth and self-reflection the moment demands, with the parallels she draws between her public fall from grace in 2020 and the homophobic blowback she faced after coming out as a lesbian earlier in her career coming across as particularly out of touch. The end result is a special that feels more like an attempt to reclaim likability than a true reflection on her career—missteps and all."

Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval is out now on Netflix.