Ellen DeGeneres is facing backlash over a prank she played on Kim Kardashian during the Skims founder’s recent appearance on her chat show.
Ellen, who often pranks famous guests on her show, taunted Kim - a notorious arachnophobe - by presenting her with a terrarium and claiming there was a spider inside.
Kim was so spooked by the stunt on The Ellen Show that she walked off stage, prompting viewers to accuse Ellen of failing to respect her boundaries.
Sitting next to Ellen in front of a live audience, Kim revealed that her favourite ever moment on the show was when her mum Kris Jenner fell over after being scared by a zombie back in 2018.
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Reflecting on her own recent trip to a haunted house with Andy, one of The Ellen Show’s producers, Kim then said: “I like to get scared,” before looking around the studio nervously, anticipating that Ellen might have a prank in store.
“I’m not gonna scare you,” Ellen reassured the Kardashian, before adding: “But I do wanna help you get over something, because you’re scared —”
Correctly guessing that Ellen was alluding to her fear of spiders, Kim interrupted the host, exclaiming: “No! No, no, no.”
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Ellen went on: “You’re scared of spiders,” before Kim continued to insist: “No, we’re not. We’re absolutely not. You’re not doing this to me. I’m never gonna get over it.”
Continuing to push the reality star, Ellen said: “It’s not loose. It’s not a loose spider,” as she lifted up the terrarium.
At that point, Kim - convinced there was a spider in the plastic tank - jumped out of her seat and screamed: “No! No, we’ve been through this before. I don’t care — I don’t care to get over my fear. I don’t care.”
Ellen pressed: “What if I hold it? What if I just hold it?!” and ignoring Kim’s refusals, pretended to chuck the spider at Kim - who screamed and yelled ‘stop’.
Despite Ellen telling Kim ‘it’s not real’, the star said to the audience: “Bye everyone!” and left the stage.
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Fans were unimpressed with Ellen’s antics, with one writing on Twitter: “Why do you think it’s funny to torture others with their fears for your entertainment? I did not find this funny, I felt second hand embarrassment for you. Do better.”
Beneath a clip of the segment on Instagram, social media users were quick to point out that Ellen failed to respect Kim’s boundaries. “Wow. Way to respect her boundaries. Respect to Kim for walking out,’ commented one person, with another echoing: “Don’t care much for the gal but that’s some clear boundaries if I’ve ever seen any. Good for her.”
A third social media user added: “That is rude. I would have left too. She said stop and no how many times? Ellen knew her fear beforehand and didn’t respect that nor her attempt at stopping her. UNCOOL.”
Other comments included: “Ellen you don't know how scary this is for someone who has a phobia”, “That’s so mean. Not funny at all”, and “This is why people don’t like Ellen anymore.”
Topics: Kim Kardashian, Ellen DeGeneres
