Ellen DeGeneres show is facing another round of backlash after former employees came forward to complain about the toxic environment on her show.
Ellen DeGeneres is promoting kindness on her TV show. However, the former employees of The Ellen DeGeneres Show said the “be kind” mantra wasn’t true off-camera.
Back in April, the crew of the Ellen Show complained about the poor communication over their pay amid the pandemic. This time, former employees complained about its toxic working environment.
Ellen DeGeneres Show former employees complained about the toxic environment
BuzzFeed News spoke with 10 former employees of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. All of them wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from the NBC daytime talk show.
According to them, taking a leave from work was a battle with supervisors and HR. Sometimes, they have to work remotely, even if they needed to be away from their job for personal reasons.
“That’s the definition of a toxic work environment, where they make you feel like you’re going insane and then you’re like, no, everything I was feeling was right. It was all leading up to this,” one former employee said, whose story was corroborated by the other five ex-staffers.
Another said they were fired after taking time away from the job on three occasions. A different ex-staffer also said they were warned for creating a GoFundMe page to raise money for medical costs that were not covered by the company health insurance. After just 24 hours, the head’s office told them to take down the page as it might hurt DeGeneres’ image.
“They discovered my fundraiser, then got mad at me. … They were more concerned about Ellen’s brand instead of helping me out,” the former employee said.
Meanwhile, another former employee criticized the show’s mantra.
“They pull on people’s heartstrings; they do know that’s going to get likes and what people are going to go for, which is a positive message. But that’s not always reality,” the former employee said.
Ellen should be more involved
Another individual who previously worked on the show believed that Ellen DeGeneres should be more involved. The show uses her name, so she should make sure that everyone is treated right.
“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,” the former staffer said.
Ellen DeGeneres show cancel or not?
Ellen DeGeneres has been called the Queen of Mean after several came forward and shared their bad encounter with the host. There were too many individuals who said that DeGeneres was mean to them.
Many also revisited her interviews with celebrities when she made them uncomfortable. For instance, DeGeneres almost made Taylor Swift cry when the singer appeared on the show.
Due to the negative reports about the host and drop in ratings, many believed the show should be canceled. According to Film Daily, “2020 is the perfect time to cancel her show.”
However, one should take the rumors about the show’s cancelation with a grain of salt. The producers have spoken up and said they are not canceling the show.
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