Oh boy, welcome to Season 18 of the Ellen DeGeneres show.
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If you're watching because you love me,
thank you if you're watching because you don't love me,
welcome.
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How was everybody's summer, good?
Yeah?
Mine was great, super terrific.
I'm so happy to be back in the studio.
There are a lot of things I want to talk about.
I've been looking forward to addressing it all directly,
and unfortunately, talking directly to people
has been illegal for six months.
So I have a virtual audience here instead.
Here you all are.
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You look beautiful, and I'm sure you smell great,
that's what I'm imagining, anyway.
All right, let's get to it.
As you may have heard this summer,
there were allegations of a toxic work
environment at our show, and then there
was an investigation.
I learned that things happened here
that never should have happened.
I take that very seriously, and I
want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected.
I know that I'm going to position of privilege
and power, and I realize that with that comes responsibility,
and I take responsibility for what happens at my show.
This is the Ellen DeGeneres show.
I am Ellen DeGeneres.
My name is there.
My name is on underwear.
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We have had a lot of conversations
over the last few weeks about the show,
our workplace, and what we want for the future.
We have made the necessary changes,
and today, we are starting a new chapter.
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There were also articles in the press
and on social media that said, that I am not
who I appear to be on TV, because I became known
as the Be Kind Lady And here's how
that happened, I started saying be kind to one another,
after a young man named Tyler Clementi took
his own life after being bullied for being gay.
I thought the world needed more kindness,
and it was a reminder that we all needed that,
and I think we need it more than ever right now.
Being known as the Be Kind lady is a tricky position to be in,
so let me give you some advice out there,
if anybody is thinking of changing their title,
or giving yourself a nickname, do not
go with the Be Kind Lady.
Don't do it.
The truth is, I am that person that you see on TV.
I am also a lot of other things.
I sometimes I get sad.
I get mad.
I get anxious.
I get frustrated.
I get impatient, and I am working on all of that.
I am a work in progress, and I'm especially
working on the impatience thing, because and--
it's not going well, because it's not happening fast enough.
I will tell you that.
Listen, you know, I don't know--
I'm a talk show host, and you know that, but maybe so
you know that I was an actress.
I've played a straight woman in movies,
so I'm a pretty good actress, but I
don't think that I'm that good, that I
could come out here everyday for 17 years and fool you.
This is me.
And my intention is to always be the best person I can be.
And if I've ever let someone down,
if I've ever hurt their feelings,
I am so sorry for that.
If that's ever the case, I've let myself down,
and I've hurt myself as well.
Because I always try to grow as a person.
I look at everything that comes into my life
as an opportunity to learn.
I got into this business to make people laugh and feel good.
That's my favorite thing to do, that and Jenga.
I love that game.
And now, I am a boss of 270 people,
270 people who helped make this show what
it is, 270 people who--
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I am so grateful for.
All I want is for every single one of them to be happy,
and to be proud to work here.
This has been a horrible summer for people
all around the world.
People are losing their jobs.
People are losing loved ones to a pandemic.
People are losing their homes and lives
in raging fires that are going on.
There's blatant racial injustice all around us.
I watch the news, and I feel like where do we even begin.
So my hope is that we can still be
a place of happiness and joy.
I still want to be the one hour a day
that people can go to escape and laugh.
I want to continue to help all the people that we help
every day, and I'm committed to making this the best season
that we've ever had.
[NO SPEECH]
So welcome to season 18 of the Ellen Show.
I am so glad that you're here.
I want to start this new season by saying, hello,
to my friend, tWitch.
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tWitch.
How are you, Ellen?
I'm so happy for this moment.
I have been waiting to be able to be back in the studio,
and to talk to people, and it's so good.
We've we actually have been seeing each other,
and continuing our friendship, but we did Game of Games
a month ago.
Absolutely, and it was fun, and it was just--
I mean, yeah.
And you kind of mentioned it, the summer is you know,
the summer was a little crazy.
It was intense, but there's been--
during that time, there's been a lot
of learning, a lot of discussions,
a lot of listening.
You and I have had numerous discussions.
And for me, I'm just so excited to be back here in the studio,
so we can do what we do best, which is bring laughter, love,
and fun, right.
And also lead by example, by putting our best foot forward
after a bounce back.
So it's all love.
I'm so excited for this season.
It's all love.
That's all that's real, is love.
That's the truth.
I love you so much.
I am so happy to announce that you're not my DJ anymore.
You are now-- can we get a drum roll?
Is that possible?
Oh, look at that.
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My co-executive producer.
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Because you're such an important part of this show,
and unfortunately, I had to take the fake DJ equipment away.
That's OK.
You got nothing there now to pretend like you're a DJ.
Exactly, a DJ can actually use that now.
Yeah
It was fake anyway.
Hi, I'm Andy.
Ellen asked me to remind you to subscribe to her channel,
so you can see more awesome videos.
Like videos of me getting scared or saying embarrassing things,
like ball peen hammer.
And also, some videos of Ellen and other celebrities,
if you're into that sort of thing.
[SCREAM]