Ellen DeGeneresreportedly wants to quit to ‘recover her personal brand’. (Anthony Harvey/Getty)
Ellen Degeneres reportedly wants to quit The Ellen DeGeneres Show to “recover her personal brand” amid claims the set is rife with racism, fear and intimidation.
WarnerMedia has launched an investigation into the working environment on The Ellen DeGeneres Show following claims that the set is “dominated by fear”.
Three Ellen producers have between them been accused of groping and grooming junior staff members, asking employees for sex and creating an atmosphere of intimidation.
Ellen DeGeneres, 62, has long been plagued by rumours of “notoriously mean” behaviour behind the cameras, seemingly at odds with her famously sunny disposition. The allegations have intensified as several reports of a toxic workplace environment surfaced over the past four months.
After months of swirling rumours about the host’s alleged mean behaviour, including that the star is “one of the meanest people alive“, Ellen apologised to staff this week saying she would seek to “correct the issues” moving forward.
And now, reports have emerged that Ellen wants to “shut down the show” in order to “recover her personal brand”, according to the Daily Mail.
An “insider” at Telepictures, the production company behind the Ellen show, said that the host is telling executives that she has had enough and wants to walk away from the show.
“She feels she can’t go on and the only way to recover her personal brand from this is to shut down the show,” the insider said.
They added: “The truth is she knew what was going on, it’s her show. The buck stops with her. She can blame every executive under the sun – but Ellen is ultimately the one to blame.”
Ellen show staff reject Degeneres apology.
The news that Ellen Degeneres wants to quit comes as staff rejected her apology this week.
“Don’t think for a minute anything she has said in that apology means anything. She created and then enabled this toxic culture to go on for so long,” said one staffer, who spoke anonymously to the Daily Mail.
“If anyone had come to her or those three vile [executive producers] to complain, they would’ve been fired.”
The Telepictures insider added: “Inside Telepictures we’ve had enough of her. She is a phony who does not practice what she preaches.
“The behaviour of her show executives has been appalling, but [Ellen] is no better. In fact, she is the worst. It’s outrageous that she is trying to pretend that this is all a shock to her. The fish rots from the head, and Ellen is the head.”
In her apology letter this week, US Weekly reported, DeGeneres said: “On day one of our show, I told everyone in our first meeting that The Ellen DeGeneres Show would be a place of happiness – no one would ever raise their voice, and everyone would be treated with respect.
“Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry. Anyone who knows me knows it’s the opposite of what I believe and what I hoped for our show.”