Embattled talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has announced the lineup of guests to close out the final season of her talk show. Behind the scenes, sources also say that she’s been actively working to improve the workplace.
DeGeneres has faced vocal criticism in the past two years for a toxic work environment on the set of her long-running show. Former employees have accused her of presiding over a series in which other executive producers of the show engaged in racial and sexual harassment, as well as hostility toward subordinate staff.
The funny lady responded by firing producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman, as well as issuing apologies to the crew. Amid the backlash, she also opted to end the show and retire after this season.
Now, preparations for the final episodes are underway with Michelle Obama, Channing Tatum, Serena Williams, Gwen Stefani, and David Letterman, among others, all set to appear.
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Deadline further reports that series insiders have seen a marked change in DeGeneres’ own attitude, and that the host will grant bonuses to employees based on the length of their tenures.
“A significant portion of the Ellen staff are old-timers,” the report reads. “30% of show employees have worked there for over 10 years; many for 15, and a few, including most executive producers, for all 19 seasons.”
The same report also claims Warner Bros., the studio behind the talk show, will extend healthcare coverage for series employees for six months after the final show tapes. The studio will also provide resume-building services to help longtime employees find new jobs.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show wraps after 19 seasons and winning a whopping 64 Daytime Emmy Awards.
DeGeneres, of course, is widely considered a queer hero and icon, courtesy of her coming out in 1997. Her career took an immediate hit, with network ABC canceling her sitcom. She rebounded several years later with an acclaimed hosting gig at the 2001 Emmy Awards and voicing a leading character in the Pixar film Finding Nemo.
Related: Ellen might be canceled, but let’s never forget all those times she kicked ass
Fahd
Preemptive damage control? Trying to buy them off in hopes of reducing the number of future lawsuits and tell-alls?
THAT Steve
I like this idea of Ellen being clueless and oblivious rather than leading the horrible treatment and will stick with it pending further proof otherwise.
powersthatbe
Those guests must be friends, as I would say she is Hollywood-plague-esque, best avoided at all costs.
Inspector 57
Damn. I was hoping Kevin Hart would be one of her last guests. They could’ve re-done their vows on national TV, just like the first time they exchanged them. You know. He vows to be sorry that haters called him out for being a homophobic d*ck. She vows, by the powers she vested in herself, that first, he is right that anyone who doesn’t adore him is a “hater,” and second, every queer person in the world totally forgives that he is a totally homophobic d*ck.
Cam
So in other words, they never gave bonuses or anything else to those employees for the previous 15 years they worked there and now are desperately trying to get a little good P.R. to smooth the way for whatever Ellen does next.
Mr. Stadnick
Ellen and her wife were the next door neighbors of a friend of mine for a while. She was rude and snarky. Her wife always looked embarrassed by Ellen’s bad behavior. No one was sad to see the back of them when they flipped their place and left.
Jim
DeGeneres is NOT a gay hero.!
She made the best out of a bad situation.
Outed closet cases can never be a true hero
Seth
Ellen WAS a queer icon and hero.
Then she became the thing from another tax bracket that considers war criminals that openly and viciously attacked the queer community incessantly her “good friend.”
That Ellen is no one’s hero, just another centrist coward concerned with her wallet, not her conscience.
Ronbo
So all the same “perfect” people are out throwing stones at gay icons for not meeting their standards. Except their standards are repugnant to most.
Fahid and Cam have both repeat false lies over and over and over. ‘he, she, they are all zeeeeee!’
Jim ignores the bravery of saying “Yep, I’m gay” while on a top-rated tv show – paying a large staff.
Seth implies Ellen’s “viciously attacked the queer community”. Forced to drink coffee, not kambchu!
Stadnick believes what his friend’s barber’s son’s dog said.
The irony of know-haters attacking someone for not being nice enough is just too sweet. Come on guys, at least try to not be as repugnant as Ellen. You make the entire LGBTQ community look like hypocritical whiners.
Oh, and make sure to attack “THAT Steve” as me (Ronbo) because we aren’t hateful enough. If we can’t be fully extremist, we must obviously be right-wingers.