Ellen: do you think she was really mean?

I think she's probably a pretty normal person and has super happy chipper days and days where she is irritable. In my working life I have known some good people that were pretty shitty bosses and could be mean and impatient with employees. I can see some people not reacting well to Ellen being a stern/mean boss when she has such a happy go lucky stage persona. It just wouldn't be what you're expecting.

In 1993 or 94, my 2 dd and I went to see Ellen doing her stand up. This was even before her sitcoms. We had watched her HBO specials a hundred times.

This was at a very small venue in Fort Worth. When she left the stage, one of my dd ( not the teacher one, ha ) wanted to follow her to her *dressing room*. I went with her. As we were so excited from seeing her perform up close.

Anyway, we followed her into a little room. It was just her and I think an employee from the place. Well, she could not have been nicer ! My dd and I were jumping up and down. Telling her how much we loved her. She did the same thing ! Jumped up and down, telling us she loved us. She wrote a long personal note to my dd on a program. It was very exciting for us. She seriously could not have been nicer.

Yes. You can't do the pranks and scares that she did without some sort of meanness. Sometimes just the look on her face as she watched videos of pranks gave me the willies. There were times she was mean even to guests on her show, in my opinion.
Not saying she wasn't nice, you can be both. I think she has issues.

I just don't know what the truth is. With all the good things she did for people, she just doesn't seem the type of person who would be an absolute bitch to people. Then again, Jimmy Saville did a whole lot of charity work.....   (Not that I am comparing what JS did to being a mean boss.)

I hate pranks and I hate being scared suddenly. I always used to think that if it were me on her show getting scared like that, I would jump up, clutch at my chest, and fall to the ground as if I had just had a heart attack. Give her a taste of her own pranking medicine! 

I agree with all of this. 

I don't think she started out that way, but as she grew in fame + power, the meaner she got (for whatever reason). I really enjoyed watching her show when she was starting out, but by the time her show ended, I could not watch her anymore. 

This is exactly why I did not watch her game show. It just seemed like a way for her to be mean and humiliate people for no reason. I hated it.

I'm also sure that this only got as much attention and exploded the way it did because she's a gay woman. Back to the OP, I won't watch her new show(s) simply because she turned me off from watching her before anyone else said a thing.

No, I don't think she was mean. I'm sure she had her moments at times, like some of us do. I mean it is hard to be nice 100% of the time, but I don't think she was or is a mean person. In fact, she seems the opposite to me, I think she's a good person, but not a perfect one.

I remember seeing blind items about her years before her reputation tanked, so I do tend to think it’s true. I think you can get away with a lot when you are a convincingly nice-presenting person.

I have heard from real people (not entertainers) that she is not a nice person. We spent a summer vacation in the Santa Barbara area about 5 years ago and the locals had nothing nice to say about her including the young kid who did our Segway tour. He was a waiter at a local restaurant and had multiple stories about her. 

i think entertainers have their entertaining persona and their private life persona.  i think ellen was probably a different person when she wasn't on air.

I think the workings of a show like that, the celebrity does not have that close of a relationship wtih the employees. Its hustle-bustle and I'm sure there are some sharp words among the staff causing the upset and of course it rolls upwards to the top, so I don't toally blame her, but I do think she loved a joke at the expensie of others. I think the pranks between her at Matt Lauer were disgusting.

I also picture her being similar to Steve Havey when he sent out a memo to employees to not approach him and not speak to him unless he asked to speak to them.
I understand when you have tons of employees, a lot of time can be eaten up with small talk with the celeb, but the way Steve's letter was written was like he was holier than thou and very mean. Curbing some of the chit chat could have been handled in a different manner.