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The hits just keep on coming for the Ellen DeGeneres Show as now the daytime talk show is reportedly under investigation by WarnerMedia over numerous allegations of workplace racism and intimidation.
The past four months have seen the show’s host, Ellen DeGeneres, come under fire for a slew of perceived slights and mistreatment by employees of her show, both current and former.
Back in March, a Twitter thread which allegedly included ex-employees of the show went viral as one former subordinate of DeGeneres called her “one of the meanest people alive.”
In April, it was reported that the crew of the show was “outraged” over their treatment during the pandemic.
Now, Variety reports The Ellen DeGeneres Show is the subject of an internal investigation being conducted by WarnerMedia’s employee relations group and a third party firm.
Sources report that the investigation will involve conducting interviews with current and former staffers about their experiences on the set of the show.
The reported investigation also comes on the heels of a BuzzFeed report which alleged numerous instances of racism and intimidation within the show’s workplace.
The Buzzfeed article alleged employees of the show work in an environment “dominated by fear”
“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,” one former employee told BuzzFeed News.
“They feel that everybody who works at The Ellen Show is lucky to work there,” the article continued. “So if you have a problem, you should leave because we’ll hire someone else because everybody wants to work here.”
TV writer Ben Simeon claimed back in March, “A new staff member was told “every day she picks someone different to really hate. It’s not your fault, just suck it up for the day and she’ll be mean to someone else the next day. They didn’t believe it but it ended up being entirely true.”
In response to the Buzzfeed article, executive producers Ed Glavin, Andy Lassner and Mary Connelly issued a joint statement which read, “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.”