At this point it would be a big surprise if the daytime talk show Ellen comes back on the other side of covid. Several former show employees have (yet again) come forward to describe a “toxic work environment” behind the scenes of the cheery, upbeat broadcast.
BuzzFeed News spoke with one current and 10 former staffers who say they were unfairly punished for doing things like taking medical leave, and a Black employee described facing constant microaggressions.
No specific allegations were made about DeGeneres herself, who has previously been accused of being “mean.”
But here’s what they did say:
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“That ‘be kind’ bullsh*t only happens when the cameras are on. It’s all for show. I know they give money to people and help them out, but it’s for show.”
Well, OK — it is called The Ellen Show.
“If she wants to have her own show and have her name on the show title, she needs to be more involved to see what’s going on,” a former employee said. “I think the executive producers surround her and tell her, ‘Things are going great, everybody’s happy,’ and she just believes that, but it’s her responsibility to go beyond that.”
Speaking of those executive producers, here’s what EP’s Ed Glavin, Mary Connelly and Andy Lassner said in a statement:
“Over the course of nearly two decades, 3,000 episodes and employing over 1000 staff members, we have strived to create an open, safe and inclusive work environment. We are truly heartbroken and sorry to learn that even one person in our production family has had a negative experience.”
“It’s not who we are and not who we strive to be, and not the mission Ellen has set for us. For the record, the day-to-day responsibility of the Ellen show is completely on us. We take all of this very seriously and we realize, as many in the world are learning, that we need to do better, are committed to do better, and we will do better.”
Or as Melania would say, be best.
Cam
In another part of the article it said that they also stated they were told to never look at or talk to Ellen. That can’t be blamed on the show producers, that is an instruction that comes from Ellen. Because if she didn’t want that, she would be questioning why nobody would look at or talk to her.
Sh*t rolls downhill. They are creating the environment she wants.
jennifer.white530
All these rumors started last year when Ellen and Portia was spotted sitting next to George W. Bush and Laura Bush at a Dallas Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium. The liberals hated it and decided Ellen must pay. How dare she talk to someone that does not agree with the liberal point of view!
Aires the Ram
Bingo!
dmanhart
Yup. Exactly!
butchqueen
One trick pony, aren’t you, honey?
mozzer
No, those rumors about her started before that.
G R
Yep, all these staffers are talking sh*t about Ellen because of ONE incident… These stories about Ellen are OLD, maybe have some perspective rather than assume that people are just out to get her.
TMBisAOK
Oh FFS! Liberals didn’t “magically” and retroactively make her mean! And her appearance with Bush and her reaction to the outcry does more to prove all these allegations than anything else!
Henreid
George W. Bush is guilty of crimes against humanity for starting a fraudulent Iraq war with a lie about “weapons of mass destruction” that led to the death of over 4,000 Americans, nearly 32,000 Americans wounded, and the death of over 100,000 Iraqi civilians. In addition to that, George W. Bush authorized the use of torture. But of course, it’s the liberals who are at fault because we remember these facts and we think it’s kind of weird for celebrities like Ellen to get chummy with George. Ellen then mischaracterized the situation by claiming that liberals were objecting because Bush is a Republican. Nope. We have a problem with befriending George W. Bush because of the crimes he has committed. I guess we liberals have terribly bad manners for bringing up these pesky little details, since, after all, George is the guy most Americans still want to drink a beer with.
As Gore Vidal so wisely observed, “We live in the United States of Amnesia…”
ThinkPlease
I kind of figured out something was up with the game show. That was degrading and not part of the uplifting image Ellen likes to project.
So I’m not too surprised to find other issues and very sorry to hear about discrimination on-set and employees treated poorly. I hope they all find better jobs–soon.
wiredpup
Disgruntled employees, nothing more, nothing less.
EddieB
While I don’t doubt Ellen is not “nice” in the way everyone would hope, these accusations don’t seem to amount to much. The amount of time and energy that goes into putting on a daily talk show precludes the host from knowing every micro aggression her staff accrues.
So, instead of going Ellen a chance to fix things, we’ve now decided to turn on her. Forget that she came out of the closet when her career could still be damaged and for some time, it was. Let’s obsess on whatever unknown, unimportant wannabe shows his dick this week.
CMarks
I stopped watching because I felt that her pranks and games were too mean spirited. It just seemed that Ellen took too much pleasure out of watching people (both audience members and guest stars) being scared by someone jumping out of the side table or roughed up during a “game. Just my personal observation and opinion.
TMBisAOK
Nothing wrong with the fun in that…unless of course you are found to be a real “B” in real life.
butchqueen
I never watched her vacuous advert-within-a-talk-show. I have better ways to spend my time.
MHaumesser
Cancel culture cost 1000 jobs!
Kangol2
Don the Con Drumpf’s Coviddeath cult has caused 140,000 American deaths and tens of millions of jobs!
jayceecook
How? Most of not all of these people no longer work for the show. The ones who still do have been out of work since Trump and his administration botched the COVID-19 response.
boymikefl
I feel bad. Whether they’re rumors or not, it would hurt anybody. Who hasn’t had a bitch boss? Put up or leave. It’s mean to smear and especially pile on. Evil people. Ellen had done a TON for us. Cut her a break. It’s time we stand up for her.
Invader7
She is a MEAN bitch. Look in her eyes. When we see on air how she derives pleasure by pulling “pranks” on people , imagine what it’s like behind the scenes. Shit does roll down hill. It’s her show- she creates and allows the nasty environment to flourish. She may be rich and famous, but she’s a cold, callous, hard, nasty crunt !!!
Smith David
Mmmmmkay…Gurls the tea has been sittin out far too long. It’s cold. Through it out. Lets not reheat it. I meeeeeaaannnn…..
jayceecook
This is how you can tell a dude is super gay. He can’t even *spell* throw probably.
Spidey137
I had the chance to ask her a couple of questions in an interview session she did when she visited my college early in her career. She was not nice and gave me the worst brush off of my young reporting career. It would definitely be a devil wears Prada situation working for her. But love her or hate her, she is who she is.
Rosie O’Donnell also claimed to be the queen of nice and she’s bat sh*t crazy. Talented, but nuts.
Joss Whedon is being called out for being mean. He may be, but when did everyone start being such snowflakes?
I work with a bully who calls me a f**got on a regular basis. But I don’t whine constantly about it. I like my job enough and put up with it. If you don’t like your job environment, quit. Nobody is holding a gun to your head to work for Ellen.
winemaker
Old news! Who really cares about this overpaid ungrateful bitch? In the words of joyless behar of the view “so what who cares, move on”.? I suggest we all move on to the more important matters each of us is dealing with and let this overpaid windbag rant and bitch. Her 15 minutes of fame are way to long. Enough on updates on ellen degenerate.
frapachino
Lol leftists eating their own! Anyone surprised?
Kangol2
Don’t you have a Don the Covid-Con rally to get to? Oh, that’s right, he can’t even draw more than a few Covid-spreading stragglers to them these days.
DarkZephyr
“Eating our own” is exactly what’s going on here and its RIDICULOUS. Cancel culture is over the goddamned top and out of control. There are always going to be disgruntled employees. Blabbing on like this like little b*tches is unprofessional. Twitter is the worst thing that has ever happened to this planet.
rocknstan
Ellen’s show puts a greedy, materialistic audience in full view each day.
It’s a greed show, as are “game shows.”
I understand from other articles that audience members even try to grab free merch other than what has been allotted to them.
Good riddance.