Ellen Degeneres said that she almost quit comedy when a group of misogynists literally turned their backs on her.
The daytime talk show host talked to Time as a part of their piece on “Firsts,” a list of women who were the first to do something in their field.
Before getting her own sitcom in the 90’s, Ellen did stand-up comedy. She said that one time she was following a couple of woman-hating comics.
“Their stuff was very homophobic, slamming women in every kind of way,” Ellen said. “It was just a very angry, testosterone-filled crowd by the time I got on stage.”
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Since she is a woman, the audience decided to put her in her place. “The entire front row of guys got up and turned their chairs around and faced the audience.”
“It was a night that I thought I would never do comedy again,” Ellen said.
But Ellen got the last laugh. “I don’t know where those guys are now, but they didn’t get the Medal of Freedom,” she said, referring Barack Obama honoring her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.
