Ellen DeGeneres' 2009 Tweet About Making Employee Cry Resurfaces

Ellen DeGeneres' cryptic tweet over a decade ago has become viral again, but most of the netizens misinterpreted the post.

In 2009, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" host took to Twitter and wrote, "I made one of my employees cry like a baby on today’s show. Honestly, it felt good." Several Twitter users came across the tweet and immediately concluded that it was proof that DeGeneres was mean to her staff. The outpour of negative comments is said to be most likely due to the toxic workplace complaints from the current and former staff members.

"WE CAUGHT YOU IN BROAD DAYLIGHT," one commented.

"This is not helping your case sis... delete," another added.

"Did u push them down the stairs ? hold a g*n to their head ? how did u do it?" another asked.

Meanwhile, others tried to defend DeGeneres because the tweet wasn't clear. Some even asked about the context.

"I'm not defending anyone, but context matters, finding a tweet from 2009 and putting it in today's context looks bad! But it also could have been, an employee celebrated something on the show and cried of joy. I've seen many quote tweets for this today, that's why I'm chiming in," @HerrShabi wrote.

"But what is the CONTEXT before we all jump onboard the hate @TheEllenShow train? Maybe she surprised her with a gift or something actually good. Why don’t we find out prior to making assumptions?" another commented.

A source came forward and told Page Six the story behind the tweet. The insider revealed that it was a reference to DeGeneres' employee Jeannie Klisiewicz, whom she surprised with a cruise on air. Apparently, DeGeneres made her cry tears of joy.

The host hired Klisiewicz in 2008 after she wrote to the show that she needed a job. After a year, DeGeneres wanted to give her a big surprise due to her positive attitude and after finding out that she had never won any contest before.

In related news, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" promoted resident DJ Stephen "tWitch" Boss as its new co-executive producer. Meanwhile, executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman, and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman were fired from the show.