Damning video shows Ellen DeGeneres being rude to an 11-year-old Taiwanese ukulele prodigy for speaking in his native tongue

As the reckoning of Ellen DeGeneres and her once polished reputation continues, more and more viewers of her eponymous show are realising that some of her interviews are unsettling, to stay the last.

Rifling her back catalogue, Twitter users were stunned Sunday evening (13 August) when a clip of the daytime talk show host chatting to an 11-year-old music prodigy resurfaced, in which DeGeneres appeared to mock him for needing a translator to facilitate the interview.

Feng E, who had played the ukulele for six years, appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2018 after a video of him busking went viral.

Yet, during an interview before his performance, the 62-year-old made what many viewers saw as barbed comments as she mocked the child for speaking in his native tongue through a translator.

i actually, genuinely h4te ellen pic.twitter.com/1JETQhdMZJ

— lily⁷ (@mainlyguk) August 23, 2020

DeGeneres has been torpedoed almost daily in recent weeks by accusations of her “mean” behaviours. Former show staffers, audience members and even guests have spoken of the star snapping from her kind persona to “moody” within seconds of the cameras switching off.

One audience member described the playbook the crowd are forced, she said, to follow by DeGeneres and her senior-level employees. “You have to clap constantly and laugh at things that aren’t funny,” she said.

Ellen DeGeneres accused of being ‘rude’ towards 11-year-old ukulele player who spoke through a translator. 

Users were alarmed by DeGeneres who cut off the translator mid-sentence as she was interpreting the question. “It’s just one question,” DeGeneres snapped as she faces the translator, the audience erupting into laughter.

DeGeneres had asked Feng if there were any other instruments he wanted to learn, to which the translator explained in Mandarin how Feng already plays the guitar and then asked what other instruments he would like to play before she’s cut off.

Throughout the interview, DeGeneres repeatedly asked whether it is important to have “flexible fingers” in Taiwan, and comments to the side “he’s a talker, huh?” to the translator.

Moreover, Feng E’s gestured when describing how fast the cars are he sees skimming down the Los Angeles, California, roads. DeGeneres bluntly corrects him.

“No, they don’t [jump],” she says, “no cars jump. Where’s he hanging out?”

Rage quickly rippled towards DeGeneres’ “rude” treatment of Feng E. DeGeneres’ interview strategy has become increasingly scrutinised by viewers in light of allegations of how “toxic” she is.

yes i speak Mandarin too, and the translator was literally translating whatever Ellen said. Ellen didn’t need to cut her off like that, the translator was doing her job well. It’s really rude of her to cut the translator & the guest off just because she doesn’t understand them??— yun⁷ (@jeondimple_) August 24, 2020

The translator was translating everything Ellen said, that's why it was so long. And yes exactly, there are conjunctions in Chinese that are not present in English but are necessary to form a coherent sentence. But Ellen is whyte after all. What did you expect? https://t.co/DLTZWwUnFA— ? I miss Baby Ben 🙁 ? (@JYAiLing) August 24, 2020

i speak mandarin to and i swear writing a simple essay about your mom is ten times harder in mandarin than english— ᴅᴀʜʟɪᴀ⁷ (@magicshoptea) August 24, 2020

EXACTLY! like if she’s so annoyed with the translator literally translating then learn the language yourself so you can speak to your guest? translating is a tough job especially with so many questions being thrown around, this video makes me upset

— ً⁷ (@1of1kj) August 24, 2020