It's usually all in good fun, but there have been several big-name celebs who came for her hard and left the veteran interviewer scrambling for a retort.
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00:00Thanks to her eponymous afternoon chat show, Ellen DeGeneres is now the Madonna of daytime
00:05TV, the Cher of giving away free stuff, and the Bono of awkward dancing.
00:10But that coveted status doesn't shield her from getting the occasional jab from a guest.
00:14It's usually all in good fun, but there have been several big-name celebs who came for
00:18her hard and left the veteran interviewer scrambling for a retort.
00:22So break out your cringe-o-meters, because we're about to reveal some times that The
00:25Ellen DeGeneres Show got a little tense behind the tree-trunk coffee table.
00:30Giada De Laurentiis
00:32In a now-classic 2017 cooking segment that went viral for all the wrong reasons, celebrity
00:37chef Giada De Laurentiis decided to start the whole thing with some innuendo about rice
00:42balls, then quickly pivoted to insulting DeGeneres' apparent lack of culinary skills.
00:47Be delicate, because, Ellen, that looks like dog food now.
00:51That's right!
00:52Ellen, it's balls.
00:53It's gonna be balls.
00:54That's not a ball.
00:55DeLaurentiis also took aim at fellow guest Nicole Kidman when she marveled at the actress'
01:00ball-shaping aptitude.
01:01Oh my God, the woman who can't cook made the perfect ball!
01:04That's amazing!
01:05From there, everything slid steadily, hilariously downhill, as DeLaurentiis doubled down on
01:09the shade until finally, DeGeneres and Kidman struck back.
01:12After taking a bite out of DeLaurentiis' clementine and fennel focaccia bread, DeGeneres
01:17mugged for the camera while struggling to chew it, and then Kidman chimed in.
01:20I know you're not meant to criticize, but it's a little hot.
01:30Sean Hayes
01:31In a conversation DeGeneres dubbed the Battle of the Gays, DeGeneres and Sean Hayes for
01:36some reason decided to one-up each other with pointed barbs about each other's careers.
01:40It played out like this.
01:41DeGeneres first swiped at DeGeneres' inability to smoothly transition from quest into question.
01:46She counter-punched by mentioning the original cancellation of Will & Grace.
01:49He returned fire, but then she went in for the kill.
01:52I think it was longer than your sitcom.
01:55Yeah, that's right, I had to come out first for y'all to do that sitcom, go ahead!
02:01The two of them, of course, fell out laughing after the whole exchange, but Hayes still
02:04learned the hard way that you do not come for DeGeneres on her home field, because she
02:08doesn't have a mercy rule.
02:11Caitlyn Jenner
02:13Most of these moments are lighthearted in nature, but there was genuine tension when
02:16Caitlyn Jenner appeared.
02:18The interview started out great, with DeGeneres heaping praise on Jenner for her work with
02:21transgender rights activism, but things got a little hairy when DeGeneres asked Jenner
02:25to explain her past opposition to same-sex marriage.
02:29I'm a traditionalist.
02:30I'm older than most people in the audience, you know?
02:33I mean, I kind of like tradition, and, you know, it's always been a man and a woman.
02:38Though Jenner did say that she'd since come around to the idea, DeGeneres sensed that
02:41perhaps that wasn't entirely true.
02:43It's funny, because you're still kind of a little not on board with it.
02:49No, I'm on board.
02:51The awkwardness continued off the air when DeGeneres promoted the interview on Howard
02:55Stern.
02:56She still has a judgment about gay marriage, and I said, you're wanting people to understand
03:01and accept you, this is like really confusing to people.
03:04Jenner later slammed both her appearance on Ellen and DeGeneres' interview on Stern,
03:09saying,
03:10"...the discussion further alienated me from members of the LGBTQ community."
03:15Katy Perry
03:16This particular insult may have been the most justified of all of these, because it came
03:20courtesy of Katy Perry when DeGeneres forgot about her marriage to Russell Brand.
03:24Yep, you heard that right.
03:26DeGeneres completely spaced on the fact that one of the most famous pop stars in the world
03:30married the weird guy from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
03:33Even Perry couldn't believe it when DeGeneres asked her if she'd been married.
03:35His name is Russell Brand.
03:36Oh, that's right, I forgot about Russell.
03:37Yeah.
03:38Remember, you gave me some wedding gifts on this show.
03:39Yes, I do.
03:40That'll be cut out.
03:48Wendy Williams
03:49Fellow talk show queen Wendy Williams has a natural, professional rivalry with DeGeneres.
03:55Perhaps that's why there have been a few slightly uncomfortable moments between the first ladies
03:58of talk in two different segments on Ellen.
04:01First in a 2013 interview, DeGeneres barely hid her disdain for the not-so-subtle shade
04:06Williams threw at Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who at the time were expecting their
04:10first child.
04:11Moments later, Williams plugged her PETA ad by acknowledging DeGeneres' veganism.
04:15That's alright.
04:16How do you live without bacon?
04:18Well, because I think pigs are smart animals.
04:21They're very smart animals.
04:23Three years later, Williams came back and played Heads Up, the game where guests make
04:26DeGeneres guess the name of a celebrity.
04:29As a clue for Justin Bieber, Williams said,
04:31"...and some people say that he looks like you."
04:33I've heard that.
04:34You've never heard that?
04:35They say it in a good way.
04:36I don't mind that.
04:37He's cute.
04:38He's adorable.
04:39Yeah.
04:40Yeah.
04:41I'm just saying.
04:42I know.
04:43Justin Timberlake
04:47Pop star Justin Timberlake is one of DeGeneres' favorite guests, so it made for an especially
04:51popcorn-worthy moment when he insulted her for not knowing the lyrics to one of his songs.
04:55While telling the story about how DeGeneres sent him a tequila-inspired sing-along of
04:59his jam, Can't Stop the Feeling, Timberlake got onto her for repeatedly singing the lyrics
05:04incorrectly.
05:05The lesson here?
05:06If booze is your karaoke partner, maybe don't send a video of your duet to the original
05:10recording artist.