No more beautiful music. Charlie Puth claimed he was abandoned by Ellen DeGeneres‘ short-lived record label shortly after Greyson Chance shared his own similar allegations about working with the talk show host.
“We both have different experiences, me versus Greyson. But I do agree with him that no one was present [at the label], certainly, after the creation of my first demo EP,” the “Attention” singer, 30, said during an appearance on the Saturday, October 8, episode of the “Rolling Stone Music Now” podcast. “Not putting any blame on one person, but from a collective … all the people that were in that room, they just disappeared. I didn’t hear from anybody.”
In October 2011, DeGeneres, now 64, announced that she had signed Puth and Emily Luther to ElevenEleven Records after seeing the pair perform a cover of Adele’s “Someone Like You” online. However, he left the label by 2012 before signing with Atlantic Records in early 2015.
Despite being “ghosted” by the comedian’s record label, Puth emphasized that he doesn’t hold any grudges — and he never felt like he was on the receiving end of her allegedly hostile behavior. “People describe Ellen as rude. I’ve never experienced that,” the “See You Again” crooner explained. “Maybe she likes me.”
Chance, 25, recently made headlines when he opened up about his experience being signed to DeGeneres’ label for the “first” and “last” time. “I’ve never met someone more manipulative, more self-centered, and more blatantly opportunistic than her,” he told Rolling Stone last month. The “My Dying Spirit” musician — who was signed to ElevenEleven after a video of the then-12-year-old singing Lady Gaga‘s “Paparazzi” went viral — claimed that the Finding Nemo star “became domineering and way too controlling” over his career.
“My whole week, my whole month, my whole year could change [with] one text message from her,” Chance told the outlet. “That was horrible. … If she had an opinion of any sort, the whole thing changed.”
The “Shut Up” songwriter also alleged that once his record sales began slipping, DeGeneres gave him the cold shoulder. “I couldn’t get ahold of her. Couldn’t talk to her,” he recalled to Rolling Stone, adding that he felt “completely abandoned” by the Ellen alum when his second album flopped. “Whenever I would come on the show, it was such a fake smile. She wouldn’t even ask, ‘How are you doing? How are you holding up?’ It was just like, ‘Here’s what we’re going to talk about. We’ll see you on there.’”
After Chance’s claims raised eyebrows, an insider told Us Weekly that DeGeneres had a very different recollection about their professional history. “Ellen and the team went above and beyond and sometimes careers just don’t take off,” the source told Us shortly after the Kansas native’s interview was published. The insider added that Chance “did not make any complaints” during his tenure with ElevenEleven and continued to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show until 2019 to “to launch his new projects.”
“He has taken this time, as he is launching a [new] album, to go after Ellen with opportunistic claims,” the insider claimed.
Chance was not the first person to accuse the Emmy winner of hostile or intimidating behavior. In June 2020, several employees of The Ellen DeGeneres Show claimed that the TV personality fostered a hostile work environment and alleged that they faced racism, fear and intimidation while working on the show. DeGeneres apologized to her staff in an email at the time and addressed the rumors that she fostered a hostile work environment during the season 18 premiere later that year.
“I learned that things happened that never should have happened. I take that very seriously,” the former American Idol judge said on-air at the time. “I want to say I am so sorry to the people who are affected. I know that I am in a position of privilege and power, and I realize that with that comes responsibility. And I take responsibility for what happens at my show. This is The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
