Ellen DeGeneres’ chat show is under internal investigation following worrying claims of racism and intimidation from former employees.
The TV show has been coming under fire over the past weeks over accusations made by former workers, with a damning expose last week claiming a series of troubling behaviours behind-the-scenes of the highly popular show.
It’s now been reported by Variety that WarnerMedia, who own and syndicate the show, are now launching an internal investigation into what’s happened on the series.
Warner Bros.Television and television executives from the production company sent a memo out to staffers last week about the accusations.
In the note, they announced WarnerMedia’s employee relations group and a third party firm will be holding interviews with staff of The Ellen Show to discuss their own experiences.
The Ellen Show representatives declined to comment when approached by Metro.co.uk.
BuzzFeed news spoke to 10 former employees of The Ellen Show, all of whom had negative experiences with the producers and bosses of the series.
It was noted that Ellen herself wasn’t involved in the incidents, but she was urged to do more and to take some responsibility for the set’s atmosphere.
Among the accusations, two black staff members were reportedly mocked by producers for ‘looking too much alike’, while another was told to take down a GoFundMe page for medical bills not covered by the show’s insurance policy, because it would ‘affect Ellen’s image’.
Another insider told BuzzFeed News: ‘They feel that everybody who works at The Ellen Show is lucky to work there — “So if you have a problem, you should leave because we’ll hire someone else because everybody wants to work here.”
‘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,’ they added.
In response, The Ellen Show’s executive producers Ed Glavin, Mary Connelly and Andy Lassner released a joint statement, which read: ‘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,’ they continued.
‘We take all of this very seriously and we realise, as many in the world are learning, that we need to do better, are committed to do better, and we will do better.’
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