Leave it to Ellen DeGeneres to diffuse what could have been a tense moment between herself and Sen. John McCain on the topic of gay marriage ... with a proposal, of sorts.
Simon Cowell had to go face-to-face with his meanness, courtesy of a biting interview. So you think Morley Safer did the interview? No. Charlie Gibson? Nope. Ellen DeGeneres? Ding, ding, ding!
Ellen DeGeneres broke from comedy for a few minutes on the show she taped today and got deadly serious.
Ellen looked into camera and talked about the murder of Lawrence King, a 15-year-old student in Oxnard, Ca. King, who was gay, was allegedly shot to death by a fellow male student whom he asked to be his Valentine.
Ellen was on the verge of tears and as close to political as she gets. The show airs tomorrow, check local listings.
TMZ has spoken with law enforcement sources -- who now seem to acknowledge the LAPD may have made a mistake by letting Marina Batkis, owner of Mutts and Moms, take back the dog Ellen DeGeneres gave to her hairstylist.
Ellen DeGeneres has canceled the taping of her show today.
This comes days after an emotional week for Ellen, who broke down in tears on Tuesday's show, as she recalled how Iggy the dog was ripped away from her hairstylist's home by a rescue organization.
The show issued this statement: "Ellen is taking a long weekend and will be back with a new show on Tuesday."
We're told that Ellen's producers asked country crooner Keith Urban -- who was previously scheduled to appear on the show -- to perform for audience members who had already arrived for the taping, not knowing it was canceled.
TMZ was the only camera at the home where little Iggy was taken Sunday night, when Ellen and Portia frantically arrived, only to find the dog was already gone.
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It's emotional, raw and heart-wrenching. Watch Ellen, Portia, Ruby (the little girl) and Cheryl (Ellen's hairstylist) describe the blow-by-blow of how Mutts and Moms steamrolled through the home and took the pup.
Take a look at the backyard confrontation where Marina Baktis of Mutts and Moms scooped up the pooch as cops decided who would walk away with Iggy.
After pleading over the airwaves for Iggy the Dog for the past few days, Ellen DeGeneres is giving her final statement about the situation.
After her usual dance onto the set of her talk show, a somber DeGeneres told the audience, "I think this is the last time I'm talking about this." In the episode, airing today, Ellen goes on to say how appreciative she is for all the letters and e-mails she's received, but warns her supporters not to resort to violence to make their point.
The only way she'd bring up Iggy again, she says, is if she's "lucky enough to say one day to you, Iggy has returned ... we'll have Iggy on the show to show you if that happens."
Bob Weatherwax, famed Hollywood dog trainer and son of Rudd Weatherwax, who established the famous Lassie line of collies, feels strongly about the storm created around Ellen DeGeneres and her good intentions in placing an adopted pet. Bob is pictured here with his current collie, Laddie. Over the 60+ years that Rudd and Bob found homes for sons and daughters of the nine generations of Lassies, their first choice was always a family with children. Says Bob, "Kids and dogs belong together. Nothing is better than for a child to grow up with a dog and learn about loving care and responsibility." While he admits that, legally, Ellen did sign a contract, he also thinks that the adoption organization could make an occasional exception to its policies.
"After all," Bob says, "what's really important here? Having a dog find a home with a committed family or making it impossible for families to adopt dogs?"
Marina Baktis, the dog rescue woman at the center of the Ellen DeGeneres scandal, filed a police report yesterday because she is being harassed for her role in the ordeal. Baktis, along with business partner Vanessa Chekroun, runs the Mutts and Moms agency from which Ellen DeGeneres adopted her dog. Ellen then was unable to keep the dog, so she gave it to her hairdresser Cheryl's family, which includes her 12-year-old daughter Ruby. Baktis told "Access Hollywood" yesterday that they've begun receiving death threats. "My life is being threatened, this is horrible. I rescue dogs. I can't believe this."
Baktis filed the report with the Pasadena Police Department last night.
The usually upbeat Ellen DeGeneres was anything but on today's episode of her show -- stopping her opening monologue to give a passionate, tear-filled speech about her recent dog troubles.
After walking on to the usual applause, Ellen quieted the audience and explained that, "Today is a hard day for me ... I am not capable of coming out and pretending to be funny when things are going so terribly wrong right now."
Wiping tears from her eyes, Ellen went on to talk about her ongoing battle with a dog rescue group that took back a dog Ellen adopted after discovering the talk show hostess had given it to her hairdresser.
Tonight's TMZ TV has all the latest on the developing story. Watch today's episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to see the rest of her passionate plea.
Talk show queen Ellen DeGeneres is caught in the middle of a doggy tug of war that has left an innocent girl in tears.
Ellen and her girlfriend, Portia de Rossi, adopted Iggy (a Brussels Griffon mix) from Mutts and Moms, a dog adoption agency. But things didn't work out as Ellen planned -- her cats didn't get along with Iggy -- so she gave the pooch to her hairdresser, who has two kids, including 12-year-old Ruby.
Last night, a rep from the agency came to the hairdresser's home, claiming Ellen violated the contract by not informing the agency of the hand-off. The rep demanded to take the dog away. Ellen' s position -- yeah, she should have notified the agency, but she found a loving home and isn't that what counts? The agency rep stuck to her guns and removed the dog with cops present. Ruby is heartbroken; reduced to tears.
Ellen says, "I kept saying, 'If you want to be mad at me, be mad at me, but don't take it out on the family. Don't take it out on the dog.'"