Ellen DeGeneres Not Welcome In New York

Posted on November 9, 2007

The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) is very unhappy with Ellen DeGeneres, who is continuing to film her show, even though other talk show hosts such as Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel are refusing to cross the picket lines to film.

Ellen is now not welcome in New York! Here's what they said:

Ellen DeGeneres went back on the air this week after honoring only one day of the writers strike. In anticipation of her plans to tape shows in New York City on November 19th and 20th, the Writers Guild of America, East is extremely disappointed to see that Ellen has chosen not to stand with writers during the strike. 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.
Ellen has also been performing comedy on her show. Even if Ellen is writing those segments herself, since those segments would normally be written by the writers on strike, she's performing "struck work". Ellen is violating the strike rules that were clearly explained to all of the comedy/variety shows.
We certainly intend to let Ellen know our dissatisfaction in person if she decides to proceed with the shows she has scheduled in New York on November 19th and 20th. We will also make our voices heard the preceding week if she tries to pre-tape comedy segments on location.
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.

Ellen's publicist issued a namby pamby response about how it's sweeps week and it will cost them money not to film and she's daytime, not nighttime etc etc, even though she is a comedian who writes material as well an as actress. So, cry us a river, Ellen. Oh, right -- you already did that over Iggy. But somehow you can't seem to show the same consideration for the writers who create all your material for your show. Everyone is losing money on a strike; that's the entire point. Writers deserve a fair wage and that's worth sacrificing for.