Charlie Puth Claims He Was Ghosted by Ellen DeGeneres’ Record Label: ‘They Just Disappeared’

Charlie Puth spoke out about his experience with Ellen DeGeneres’ record label in a new interview on Saturday (Oct. 8).

In a conversation with the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast to promote his new album Charlie, the pop singer reflected on being signed to the talk-show host’s fledgling (and now-defunct) eleveneleven label in the early 2010s after his cover of Adele’s “Someone Like You” with pal Emily Luther went viral on YouTube.

Puth compared his situation with DeGeneres’ label to Greyson Chance‘s recent accusations of the daytime star being “manipulative” and “opportunistic” as a mentor. “We both have different experiences, me versus Greyson,” he said. “But I do agree with him that nobody was really present, certainly after the creation of my first, like, demo EP. I didn’t really hear from anybody after that. Not putting any blame just on one person, but from a collective, all the people that were in that room, they just [makes woosh sound] disappeared.

“But even then, I was fortunate enough to [get] a scholarship to Berklee, so I was able to fall back on going back to school,” Puth continued. “So it was a real blunder that it didn’t work out, but I went back to Massachusetts and continued my education.”

The “Charlie Be Quiet!” singer also clarified that he doesn’t hold any ill will toward DeGeneres, saying, “People describe Ellen as rude. I’ve never experienced that. Maybe she likes me.”

Billboard has reached out to DeGeneres’ rep for comment.

The crooner’s new album Charlie arrived Oct. 7 via Atlantic Records and contains singles “Light Switch,” “That’s Hilarious,” “Left and Right” featuring Jung Kook, “Smells Like Me” and “I Don’t Think That I Like Her.”

Listen to Puth’s full interview about Ellen DeGeneres, the many inspirations behind Charlie and more here.