It’s been a long while since we last heard from Greyson Chance. His last full album, “Portraits” was released back in 2019 and one of his last TV appearances was when he performed his single “Shut Up” on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”. Ellen also interviewed the singer about his life after coming out as gay back in 2017.
Speaking of Ellen, there has been a lot of rumours, speculations, and allegations about the talk show host’s mistreatment of staff members. Her celebrity friends came to her defense by sharing all the good times they had every time they appeared as a guest on her show. However, Greyson has come forward with a completely different story that could possibly change your perspective on Ellen.
In an interview with Rolling Stone to promote his new album “Palladium”, singer-songwriter Greyson Chance spilled a lot of traumatic truths while he was under Ellen at the beginning of his music career. According to the singer, the former American Idol judge, who signed the young talent to her record label after his live rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” went viral on YouTube, promised to be there for him every step of the way. But things didn’t go exactly how he imagined.
“If she had an opinion of any sort, the whole [project] changed,” said the 25-year-old. He revealed how manipulative and controlling Ellen was throughout the entire time he was under her mentorship. According to the “Hellboy” singer, the talk show host guilt-tripped him into watching Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never” documentary in the guise that it will help him build his career by observing what Justin was doing. Greyson, who was exhausted from touring, had no choice but to watch the movie after a heated phone call with the comedian.
Things went downhill from there. Other than being manipulative and controlling, the musician shared how Ellen would berate and yell at his team in front of him if things didn’t go her way. Then it got worse when Greyson’s popularity started to decline. After the unsuccessful release of his second album, “Truth Be Told Pt.1”, the singer revealed that Ellen “completely abandoned” him. “I couldn’t get ahold of her. Couldn’t talk to her,” he said after being dropped from his label in 2012.
The young talent from Oklahoma took a break from the industry to focus on his mental health and education. He made his return to music with the release of “Somewhere Over My Head” through his own independent record label in 2016. The singer then went on to appear on “The Ellen Show” several times to promote his music and give life updates but said that the two did not speak backstage.
“I was 100 percent faking it, and [I felt like] she’s 100 percent faking it with me, too.” The queer artist refused to appear on the show during its last season as he didn’t want to give Ellen another opportunity to exploit him. Greyson’s allegations about the comedian echoed the words of her former employees who described that working with her “was literally hell“.
Despite everything he had shared, Greyson still acknowledges that Ellen and his old team contributed to the success of the first part of his career but added that his comeback to music and all he has achieved now was all through his own hard work with the help of his current team.
At the time of writing this article, neither Ellen DeGeneres nor her representatives came forward to address the allegations made by Greyson Chance. Rollingstone also claimed that their request for her comments was declined.
Sources: Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, Instagram,
