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People's Choice Awards 2020: Ellen DeGeneres wins best daytime talk show, viewers ask 'did she pay for that?'

After accepting the award, Ellen DeGeneres thanked her 'amazing' staff and said, 'Thank you. From deep, deep down in my heart, I thank you'

Ellen DeGeneres, who didn't have a particularly good 2020 with accusations of toxic workplace behavior leveled against her, surprised social media users after her show won the Best Daytime Talk Show at the 2020 People's Choice Awards.

The 62-year-old talk show host generated a lot of discussions online after she thanked her staff in her acceptance speech. You can watch the speech in the tweet below which read, "Legend! Ellen DeGeneres honors 'amazing' staff at 2020 E! People's Choice Awards."

The host also now holds the record for most People's Choice Awards with a total of 24 wins, as pointed out by an Ellen fan account which read, "Ellen DeGeneres holds the record for the most-awarded person in #PCAs history with a career total of 24."

However, viewers weren't happy with Ellen's victory. One user commented, "Umm, why was she even a nominee? Did y’all forget how she treated her staff and EVERYONE?!" while another said, "so we just gonna ignore how she treated her staff then?" A user tweeted, "Ellen Degeneres mentioning her staff as if she treats them right." One user wrote, "People's Choice Awards IS RIGGGGGED. No way the people want Ellen to win anything. Did she pay for that award #PCAs?"

A viewer said, "Whole show is giving very much Trumpie vibes what is Ellen’s a** doing there? #PCAs" while another tweeted, "not to get fired up an awards show but how did ellen win a people's choice awards in 2020? like... we know the nice act is fake. I highly doubt she genuinely won. unless the midwest is that gullible. it smells rigged to me, though #PCAs" An angry viewer said, "I was gonna watch the #PCAs but I’m not interested in a show that tries to rehabilitate Ellen’s reputation. No thanks."

After accepting the award, Ellen thanked her staff and said, "Thank you. From deep, deep down in my heart, I thank you. I am not only accepting this award for myself but on behalf of my amazing crew and staff who make the show possible they show up every single day, give 100 percent of themselves, 100 percent of the time. That’s 250 people, times 170 shows a year, times 18 years, if you carry the 2 and divide it by 11 – my point is, I love them all. And I thank them all."

"I know [where] this award comes from – thank you to the people. Thank you to all of my fans for supporting me, for sticking by me. I cannot tell you how grateful I am. This means more than I can say." She then jokingly said, "I’m gonna wipe it down with Lysol and put it on my shelf."

Ellen drew flack after reports of a toxic workplace environment were detailed in a Buzzfeed article. She had, back in September, clarified her position saying, "I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected."