'Ellen Degeneres Show' under investigation after complaints about work culture
- by Leland Aguilar
- in Entertaiment
- — Jul 29, 2020
After no less than 11 The Ellen DeGeneres Show current and former employees came forward to complain about the workplace environment, it looks like WarnerMedia has chose to start an investigation into all of their claims.
A Warner Bros. Television spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.
Prior to that, YouTube sensation NikkieTutorials aka Nikkie de Jager had also narrated her unpleasant experience of the time she made her appearance on The Ellen Show.
A source close to the production confirmed to NBC News that Warner Media has launched a probe into the award winning show, an investigation first reported by Variety on Monday.
Meanwhile, current staffers on the show were reportedly "loving" that their former co-workers were coming forward with these claims.
Following these reports, the said producers, Mary Connelly, Ed Glavin and Andy Lassner released a statement via ET in which they expressed their regrets over that toxic environment.
"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", one former employee told BuzzFeed. In another case, a former Black employee said she was subjected to multiple racist comments during her tenure, including once at a staff party. This comes after an article was published by BuzzFeed in July alleging that there was a "toxic work culture", with former and current employees telling the publication that they "faced racism, fear and intimidation" on set.
Ellen was not mentioned as directly responsible for any of these incidents, but employees argued that if executive producers and senior staff were creating a hostile environment, she needed to take "more responsibility".
"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", they added.
Earlier this month, the show's executive producers issued a statement declaring that "that we need to do better, are committed to do better, and we will do better".
Telepictures, a unit of Warner Bros. Us Weekly reported that a show source connected to the production has said: "They've been calling and texting each other about the story".
"The Ellen DeGeneres Show", the victor of dozens of Emmys, is now on summer hiatus.
