What did Margaret Cho say? Comedian slams Ellen DeGeneres as she reveals rift

Margaret Cho has recently shared details about her friendship with Ellen DeGeneres. She referred to them as years of a negative relationship between the pair.

In an appearance on The Kelly Mantle Show, June 20, 2025, Cho revealed that DeGeneres had been “really weird and not nice” to her for the majority of her career, despite their early days as stand-up comedians.

"Ellen was really weird and not nice to me for most of my career." The comedian said.

Cho, 56, looked back on their performing days in New York City comedy clubs, recalling that she once opened for DeGeneres in the 1980s when Ellen was the headliner. But as their now shared careers continued and Cho was cast as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the 2000s, she alleged that DeGeneres acted as if they were strangers when they met.

"I’m like, ‘B**ch, what?’ That’s weird. We go way back. It’s so creepy and weird!" Cho added.

This isn’t Cho’s first time opening up about her mixed emotions over Ellen DeGeneres. In 2007, Cho publicly turned down an invitation to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show during the Writers Guild of America strike in support of the writers.

In a blog post, she admitted it was a tough decision, noting that she is a fan of DeGeneres and the two share a history, but stated that she had to be firm and take a stand for her political views.

"I absolutely love Ellen, for a million reasons and for a very long time, but because of the way that I was raised, because my political views are they way they are, because I believe that workers should have the power and the ability to make their lives better." She wrote in her blog post.

Margaret Cho talks about the time when her name was cut out from Ellen DeGeneres' show

In the recent podcast appearance, Margaret Cho talked about an incident involving the late David Bowie that made her quite disappointed and let down by DeGeneres. She spoke of a time when she attended one of Bowie’s concerts in a Chinese emperor costume, which he supposedly lauded while on Ellen DeGeneres’ show.

Cho alleged that DeGeneres edited the entire exchange out of the broadcast. A producer and a close friend of Cho supposedly told her about the incident.

"The producer, who was a really good friend of mine, had to call and tell me, ‘I can’t believe she did this but she cut it out of the show." Cho recalled.

Margaret Cho confessed she wasn’t sure if the cut was intentional or not. Nonetheless, she expressed her disappointment at the incident.

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"[It’s] so rude! I don’t know if it was personal, maybe it [cut] was for time. But still, I’m going to take it personally just because I decided to."

On the other hand, Ellen DeGeneres has kept a low profile since moving to the UK with wife Portia de Rossi and has not commented on Cho’s recent remarks.

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