Ellen DeGeneres finds herself entangled in a new lawsuit, accused of allegedly causing a car accident in 2023.
According to TMZ, a woman claimed that on October 16, 2023, the 67-year-old former talk show host surpassed a stop sign while driving in Santa Barbara County, resulting in “t-boning” the woman’s car. The outlet reports that the woman was driving a Tesla and had stopped at the intersection with stop signs posted in all directions. After waiting at the intersection and thoroughly checking for any traffic, the woman proceeded to drive, which is when Ellen’s car sped through, t-boning her car and allegedly injuring her in the process.
The lawsuit mentioned, “Ellen DeGeneres entered the intersection without stopping at the stop sign.”
According to PEOPLE, the lawsuit additionally accused the American comedian of “negligent conduct [that] fell below the standard of care of a reasonable person”, mentioning that DeGeneres “negligently caused, or contributed to causing plaintiff’s vehicle to be collided with by the defendants’ vehicle.”
Not only that, but the woman also claimed to have suffered from “multiple serious personal injuries and damages” owing to the accident, according to the reports. Adding on to the injury and other expenses, she also allegedly suffered from wage loss and medical expenses, along with a “loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, and anxiety.”
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According to TMZ, the current lawsuit adds on to the recent string of controversies associated with Ellen DeGeneres, including her fallout with Rosie O’Donnell, and, more recently, an allegation of a toxic workplace. A cameraman who had previously worked on the production revealed to the Daily Mail that the work environment at her show was difficult for many male employees.
Speaking to the news outlet, the former cameraman said, “We went through a lot of male employees just in general. We had a feeling she really didn’t like guys.”
The ex-staffer further claimed that the former talk show host disapproved of male staffers chatting with her wife, or else they would have to endure “the Ellen gaze”, hated Gordon Ramsay, and once approved the executives to put pressure on a senior staffer to change the date of their child’s major surgery because it did not suit her.
The Daily Mail‘s source confided, “The kid had a major surgery – like a bone marrow transplant. It was asked of this particular person if the kid’s ‘thing’ – that’s what they referred to it as – was the same week as the Christmas holiday week. This was a person pretty high up. This person was asked if they could move the procedure around the Christmas holiday week, for Ellen.”
The insider continued to say, “They were there on the day of the taping that week – Ellen got exactly what she wanted. It was all loyalty to the show, but no loyalty to staff.”
The recent allegations against DeGeneres for fostering a toxic workplace corroborate the run parallel to the allegations that were laid against her in 2020. At the time, she had addressed those accusations, saying, “I learned that things happened here that never should’ve happened. I take that very seriously, and I want to say I’m so sorry to the people who were affected.” However, just 2 years later, in 2022, her long-running talk show came to an end.
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Amidst the upsurge in the controversies that besmirched her reputation, the comedian recently relocated to the United Kingdom, for allegedly being “kicked out of the show business for being mean.” According to Parade, DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, relocated to the Cotswolds in 2024 when President Trump was re-elected.