The Ellen DeGeneres Show may soon come to an end after several employees came forward in recent weeks and accused the talk show of creating a toxic work culture. The award-winning talk show has run for almost 20 years on NBC, and is a staple of daytime television.
In July, BuzzFeed News published interviews with former employees who claimed that the nice and generous image of Ellen was just a front, and that the reality behind the scenes was much different. Speaking to both current and former staff members, BuzzFeed reported on a culture of “racism, fear and intimidation” on the show. One former employee cited multiple instances of racism and microaggression and said she was shut down when she tried to air her grievances to producers. Some staffers cited issues with lack of pay and general issues with human relations. According to the employees, many of those issues stemmed from a culture of fear where employees who kept their heads down and didn’t voice concerns were favored.
The news came just months after people on Twitter shared their stories about DeGeneres and her show. While some of the tweets were positive, many were scathing and definitely contrasted to the “be kind” image that DeGeneres presented. Some who work in entertainment claimed that it was no secret among people in the industry that working for Ellen could be a nightmare.
Right now we all need a little kindness. You know, like Ellen Degeneres always talks about! ❤️
She’s also notoriously one of the meanest people alive
Respond to this with the most insane stories you’ve heard about Ellen being mean & I’ll match every one w/ $2 to @LAFoodBank
— Kevin T. Porter (@KevinTPorter) March 20, 2020
the first thing i learned when i moved to LA was to never ever work for the ellen show lmao https://t.co/BU4K9KxT9K
— Autumn Valenzuela Farrell (@_rufhaus) July 28, 2020
As a response to the allegations, The Ellen Show came under investigation by its parent company WarnerMedia. In a statement made to BuzzFeed News, Ellen producers Ed Glavin, Mary Connelly and Andy Lasser said that they were disappointed to hear of the poor experiences employees have had. They put the blame on themselves, and said that they “are committed to do better.”
On July 30, Degeneres sent an internal letter to the show staff apologizing for not being aware of the toxic work culture on her show, and that she was taking steps to change.
Later that day, BuzzFeed News published another piece that revealed that there were multiple cases of sexual misconduct and harassment on The Ellen Show. Dozens of former employees reported incidents that ranged from producers being “too handsy” to outright soliciting oral sex at parties.
Many criticized DeGeneres for her lack of accountability for the allegations about her show.
Rumors have begun to spread that Ellen wants to leave her show altogether as calls to #ReplaceEllen began to trend on Twitter. James Corden was supposedly in talks to replace her, but many believe that a person of color or member of the LGBTQ+ community should take the legendary host’s place instead.
SHE will be amazing#ReplaceEllen #WandaSykesForEllen pic.twitter.com/JIMp7KiskY
— A no Bullshit Account (@truth_stan) August 3, 2020
