Ellen

Another celebrity interview thing at work – in the footsteps of Bill Gates, Alicia Keys and Sir Elton John, today it was talk-show host, sometime actor and comedian Ellen DeGeneres.  I think she is much bigger here than in the UK – mainly because she was one of the first celebrities to publicly “come out” on American TV, and definitely one of the highest profile.  In the UK, I only really knew her from the film EDtv!  And more recently I guess, as the voice of Dory.  I’m always curious how much these big stars are paid to do these corporate gigs – must be a lot (and at a minimum, a big contribution to her charity).  As a talk show host herself, it must be awful to be interviewed in such an amateurish way as this.  As an open lesbian and a big proponent of LGBT+ rights, that seemed to be the primary focus of the interview – I guess it loosely fitted into my company’s goal of promoting diversity, but is obviously her passion.  She seemed much like how I’ve seen her in clips from her talk show – smart, talkative and with a razor-sharp wit, even when answering questions she’s probably been asked a million times before (with plenty of digs at Trump thrown in, predictably and amusingly).