It’s been a rough few months for Ellen DeGeneres as the daytime talk host dealt with backlash related to complaints members of her staff had with working on her show in previous years all while trying to figure out what her show would look like as she idled at home during the pandemic. These days, The Ellen Show is back on the air and DeGeneres has addressed the backlash. However, the internet has a long memory, as evidenced by a slew of recent tweets dedicated to the anniversary of that time Dakota Johnson clapped back at Ellen DeGeneres during an episode of her show.
This time last year, Dakota Johnson was busy promoting her movie The Peanut Butter Falcon when she popped up on The Ellen Show. What ensued was a couple of minutes of awkward banter as Ellen asked Dakota Johnson about her 30th birthday and joked about not being invited, to which Johnson replied she had, in fact, been invited. The clip subsequently went viral.
At the time, the video was amusing and seemingly fairly innocuous, but has subsequently taken on a different context after allegations arose that Ellen DeGeneres was not a particularly pleasant person to be around on the set of her show. So, of course, when the anniversary of the clip ran around, Twitter had thoughts. Some simply decided to dub the day “Dakota Johnson Day."
Others had opinions that were a bit more aggressive toward Ellen DeGeneres herself as the anniversary of the now-famous interview rolled around.
Some have decided to celebrate the cultural moment in, erm, more intriguing ways than others.
Finally, for one person on social media, this is an interview they think of often and not just on the anniversary of the viral video.
I personally think we should all take a moment to admire Dakota Johnson’s look in the year-old footage, as that plaid suit has held up really well a year later (unlike a lot of other things in 2020). Meanwhile, for her part, The Ellen Show did drop the producers who were reportedly responsible for misconduct on the set of the show. She has apologized for any hurt feelings she may have caused for the staff given she is the head of the production and the major talent on The Ellen Show. In the time since, her show has returned to the studio, though The Ellen Show has struggled in the ratings since her return.
A short while back, Ellen DeGeneres had talked about potentially retiring from the late night game. However, given all that has gone on in 2020, there’s certainly a new challenge ahead of the talk show host if she chooses to stay in the game. Personally, I can’t wait to see what happens the next time she interviews the Fifty Shades of Grey star.
