Ellen DeGeneres had a different “experience” while working with Greyson ChanceAfter signing him to a record contract as a teenager, a source exclusively told me Use Weekly.
“Ellen and the team went above and beyond and sometimes careers just don’t take off,” the insider tells Us about the 64-year-old comedian’s working relationship with the “Shut Up” singer, 25.
The source adds that Chance “did not make any complaints” during the time that he worked with DeGeneres and her team and continued to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show “to launch his new projects” until 2019.
“He has taken this time, as he is launching a [new] album, to go after Ellen with opportunistic claims,” the insider claims.
Within hours, the response is received Rolling Stone published an interview with Chance, 25, in which the “Shut Up” singer opened up for the “first” and “last” time about his experience being signed to the Emmy winner’s eleveneleven record label. “I’ve never met someone more manipulative, more self-centered, and more blatantly opportunistic than her,” he told the outlet in an interview published on Thursday, September 22.
Chance was invited on DeGeneres’ eponymous talk show when he was 12 years old after a video of him performing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” went viral. After giving him $10,000 and a piano, she signed Chance to her new label. She allegedly promised his mother that she would personally help him on his path to stardom. However, Chance claims that the comedian soon “became domineering and way too controlling,” and wanted final say on everything from his music to his wardrobe.
“My whole week, my whole month, my whole year could change [with] one text message from her,” the “My Dying Spirit” musician told the outlet. “That was horrible. … If she had an opinion of any sort, the whole thing changed.”
Both Chance and his mother, Lisa, also claimed that the former talk show host once admonished them when he didn’t have time to watch an advance screening of Justin Bieber‘s Never Say Never. “I just remember hearing on the other side of the phone, just yelling [and] beratement,” he recalled, claiming that she told his mom, “‘What type of mother are you? Do you realize that I went out of my way to get this for you, and he can’t sit down and watch it?’”
Chance stated that despite the difficulties of dealing with the alleged micromanagement while working 14-16 hours a day, he was happy with his relationship with the Finding NemoAfter his record sales fell, the voice actress took a downturn. “I couldn’t get ahold of her. Couldn’t talk to her,” he recalled to Rolling Stone, adding that he felt DeGeneres “completely abandoned” him after his second album flopped. “Whenever I would come on the show, it was such a fake smile. She wouldn’t even ask, ‘How are you doing? How are you holding up?’ It was just like, ‘Here’s what we’re going to talk about. We’ll see you on there.’”
Chance was dropped from his record label in 2012 and moved back to Oklahoma from Los Angeles. Though he continued to make music and still periodically appeared on her talk show, the “Holy Feeling” singer said that the Louisiana native never reached out to him behind the scenes.
Chance claimed that he was a victim of the sexism during his last appearance on EllenDeGeneres was as if nothing had ever happened between them in 2019. “That’s so messed up, that you’re now showing the world as if we’re so tight. We’re so good. And behind the scenes, you are this insanely manipulative person,” he recalled. “When I look at the interviews and I look at my eyes, I can see so much anxiety. … I was 100 percent faking it, and [I felt like] she’s 100 percent faking it with me, too.”
This is not DeGeneres’ first incident of intimidating behavior. In June 2020, several employees were on the verge of being fired. The Ellen DeGeneres ShowThe TV personality claimed that they were subjected to racism, fear, intimidation and other forms of harassment while working on the show. In an email, she apologized to her staff for creating a hostile work environment in season 18.
“I learned that things happened that never should have happened. I take that very seriously,” the Finding DoryStar said it on-air at that time. “I want to say I am so sorry to the people who are affected. I realize that I am in a position where privilege and power are available to me, and that responsibility comes with it. I accept responsibility for what happens on my show. This is The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
DeGeneres’ team did not respond for comment.
Diana Cooper reporting
