Current and former employees of the “Ellen DeGeneres Show" have come forth with claims that they were subjected to racism and intimidation while forced to work in a "toxic" environment.
Viewers aren't getting the full picture, just what they see while cameras are rolling, but things are very different behind the scenes, according to 10 former employees and one current employee, who spoke anonymously to Buzzfeed out of fear of retribution.
“That ‘be kind’ bulls--t only happens when the cameras are on. It’s all for show,” one former employee said. “I know they give money to people and help them out, but it’s for show.”
Most of the former staffers pointed to executive producers and other senior managers for making things unbearable on the set of the daytime talk show.
“People focus on rumors about how Ellen is mean and everything like that, but that's not the problem. The issue is these three executive producers running the show who are in charge of all these people [and] who make the culture and are putting out this feeling of bullying and being mean,” a second former employee claimed.
“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.’”
One black woman walked out of her job after being subjected to racist comments and “microaggressions.” She said she was then reprimanded by executive producer Ed Galvin for trying to speak up and suggesting employees undergo diversity and inclusion training.
“I feel like I’m not alone in this,” she said. “We all feel this. We’ve been feeling this way, but I’ve been too afraid to say anything because everyone knows what happens when you say something as a Black person. You’re blacklisted.”
A third employee said they returned to work after taking a month's medical leave following a suicide attempt only to be told their position had been eliminated.
“Some of the producers talk openly in public about addiction and mental health awareness, but they’re the reason there’s a stigma,” the former staffer said. “They definitely don’t practice what they preach with the ‘be kind’ mantra."
Another former employee was fired for taking three weeks medical leave after they were in a car accident, then working remotely for two days while attending a family member's funeral, and three days off to travel to another family member's funeral.
“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,” the former employee said.
In a joint statement to BuzzFeed News, executive producers Ed Glavin, Mary Connelly, and Andy Lassner said they take the stories of the employees “very seriously.”
“Over the course of nearly two decades, 3,000 episodes, and employing over 1,000 staff members, we have strived to create an open, safe, and inclusive work environment,” they said. "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.”
The statement continued: “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.”