Bullied by Ellen as a kid

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Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres is under fire again from a man in her Louisiana hometown, who has accused the star of bullying him as a pre-teen.

Ben Gravolet has come forward with allegations of harassment against Ellen, who recently apologized to employees of her namesake talk show following claims she turned a blind eye to misconduct and bad behaviour on set.

Gravolet alleges he was a target of DeGeneres' torment when she worked at his mother's recruitment agency in the late 1970s.

"I would dread going to (my mom's) office to see her after school or on a day if I was sick and Ellen was there," the 52-year-old father of three and New Orleans marketing agency vice-president told DailyMailTV.

"She would criticize my weight. I would try to do homework in the office, she'd call me stupid, she'd call me fat. She would criticize my clothes."

And Gravolet admits he is still scarred by one alleged insult he received from Ellen.

"One incident stands out in my mind," he added. "I was sitting beside her desk. I was drawing, and she criticized the drawings. She said, 'I guess that would look nice if you could draw.'

"As I watched her meteoric rise to fame, people would say how great she was and all I could think (about) was, 'She must be an incredible actor because she was one of the most vile people I've ever met in my life'. Who takes pleasure in giving a child pain?"

Meanwhile, Gravolet's mother, Tana Robinson, told the outlet she thought Ellen was "extremely rude", but had no idea she had allegedly tormented her son.

"I think I probably fired her," Tana said. "Had I known that was going on, I'd have punched her and then fired her. A horrible person does that to an 11-year-old boy."

DeGeneres, who is currently part of an investigation into workplace practices following complaints about the toxic environment behind the scenes at The Ellen DeGeneres Show, has also been hit by claims she tried to get a waitress suspended for having chipped nail polish.

Actress Chris Farah alleges she was working at popular Los Angeles restaurant Real Food Daily in 2014 when Ellen and her wife Portia de Rossi came in for a meal. She was thrilled to meet the stars but found out later DeGeneres had emailed the restaurant owner complaining about her server's nail polish.

"It chipped the night before and I didn't have time to get a fresh manicure after I closed the restaurant at 11 p.m. and reopened at 8:30 a.m.," she tells MailOnline. "She (Ellen) really went out of her way to try to hurt someone who was beneath her and serving her. You're going to try to take money away from me for two weeks because you don't like the way my nails looked? It's sh**ty.

"It's not anything akin to her image of 'be kind'. It's unnecessarily cruel and out of touch, and (she) doesn't understand the repercussions. It's a crazy thing to do."

DeGeneres has yet to respond to Farah and Gravolet's claims.