For the first time ever, Ellen DeGeneres directly addressed the toxic workplace allegations during the opening monologue of her show yesterday. But, her former employees are far from happy, for one very big reason…
Ahead of last night’s premiere of the eighteenth season of The Ellen DeGeneres Show…
Ellen spoke out on camera during the opening monologue of the episode, addressing the toxic workplace allegations.
Reactions came in strong, to say the least.
Don’t worry, we’ve got the clip coming right up…
Her former employees have spoken out after hearing what she had to say, and they didn’t hold back.
The infamous host of The Ellen Show has been batting off accusation after accusation.
One small allegation can have things falling apart very quickly.
What started as a trickle of bad press, has become a flood.
Now, more than ever before, people are starting to turn against the star as detrimental stories continue to resurface.
With BTS secrets of diva behavior, poor treatment of staff, and even more serious allegations have come to the surface.
Apart from her fans, that is.
Ellen’s ratings are dropping as the world decides they can no longer back the star.
Well, many fans are looking back over the series and asking the very same questions.
Ellen has always been problematic!
Which has been pretty horrific over the years.
Yikes.
Something a fan sent to her.
Not cool, Ellen.
When she pulled up old embarrassing Facebook pictures of a guest in front of a huge live audience.
As the old adage goes, if you haven’t got anything nice to say …
Who would say something like this?
Just a terrible, terrible joke to make.
Iconic.
Ellen has made the decision to address the situation to her fans.
The footage was initially posted on YouTube, and then later on Twitter before being shown on the show that evening.
“As you may have heard, this summer there were allegations of a toxic work environment at our show and then there was an investigation. I learned that things happened here that never should have happened.”
“I take that very seriously and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected. I know that I’m in a position of privilege and power and I realized that with that comes responsibility, and I take responsibility for what happens at my show.”
“We have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks about the show, our workplace, and what we want for the future. We have made the necessary changes and today we are starting a new chapter.”
“And here’s how that happened: I started saying, ‘be kind to one another’ after a young man named Tyler Clementi took his own life after being bullied for being gay.
“I thought the world needed more kindness and it was a reminder that we all needed that, and I think we need it more than ever right now.”
“Being known as the ‘be kind’ lady is a tricky position to be in. So let me give you some advice out there if anybody’s thinking of changing their title or giving yourself a nickname, do not go with the ‘be kind’ lady. Don’t do it.”
“The truth is I am that person that you see on TV. I am also a lot of other things. Sometimes I get sad, I get mad, I get anxious, I get frustrated, I get impatient, and I am working on all of that.”
Her statement comes after Warner Bros. Television announced that 3 senior producers had exited The Ellen DeGeneres Show after an investigation.
The show has reportedly been investigated following allegations of racism and sexual misconduct in 2 BuzzFeed News articles, in which past and present employees of the show claimed they faced racism, fear, and intimidation.
And they had a lot to say on the matter.
And this really didn’t sit well with her former employees, who came forward to BuzzFeed News to react to what the host had to say for herself.
“When she said, ‘Oh, my summer was great’ and that was supposed to be funny, I thought, ‘It’s funny that you had a rough summer because everyone was calling out all of the allegations of your toxic work environment and now you’re the one suffering?’” another former employee said.
Especially given the fact that people had come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against her former producers.
“When you’re talking about people who have accused her leadership of the seriousness of sexual misconduct, I don’t think it’s appropriate to have jokes in the monologue,” a former employee told the publication.
“She’s acting like it was something she said in passing that just stuck with her. It’s not something that stuck with her, it’s not an accident. She went forward with this idea and this marketing strategy that was not true behind the scenes.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being the ‘be kind lady’ if you’re actually true to your word.”