The Ellen DeGeneres Show is best known for its dancing, singing, and fun games involving celebrities and audience members. Ellen is always smiling and joking and appears to be loved by everyone around her.
However, an investigation launched by its parent company Warner Media could mean the end of the show and even Ellen’s career.
A current member of the show, as well as 10 former staff members, submitted formal complaints about the show’s “toxic work environment.” According to these members, they were subjected to constant bullying and discrimination.
Eric Schiffer is the chairman of Reputation Management consultants. He says the investigation could be the death of Ellen’s career.
Schiffer said, “She could be perpetrating on of the biggest frauds in American celebrity history. There are now serious investigators looking into the allegations and if the findings are as damning as what has been reported then you could watch the ‘Ellen Show’ go boom.”
Schiffer says that the accusations being made are coming from very credible sources that left Warner Media with no choice but to look into it.
“I think Ellen has been arrogant in her entire approach in dealing with the allegations and it’s crazy for her not to accept responsibility for what is happening under her leadership. In Hollywood, the buck stops at the star’s name on the door, not at the producer level. It would be impossible for her to not know what was happening within her own staff,” said Schiffer.
During an interview with BuzzFeed, one former employee said that DeGeneres’s motto “be kind” was “bullsh*t.”
The former employee said, “That ‘be kind’ bullsh*t only happens when the camera are on. It’s all for show. I know they give money to people and help them out, but it’s for show.”
Another former employee’s story of her time on the show is a disturbing example of the racism that took place behind the scenes.
A Black woman who used to work on The Ellen DeGeneres Show told BuzzFeed News she experienced racist comments, actions, and “microaggressions” during her year and a half as an employee. She said when she was hired, a senior-level producer told her and another Black employee, “Oh wow, you both have box braids; I hope we don’t get you confused.” And at a work party, she said, one of the main writers told her, “I’m sorry, I only know the names of the white people who work here,” and other coworkers “awkwardly laughed it off” instead of coming to her defense.
When the former employee brought up issues of race and representation on the show and asked producers not to use offensive terms like “spirit animal” in segments, her colleagues called her “the PC police.”
When she started to speak up about the discrimination, she said, all of her colleagues distanced themselves from her.
“Whenever I brought up an issue to my white male boss, he would bring up some random story about some random Black friend that he had and how they managed to get over stuff,” she said. “He would use his Black friend as some way to say, ‘I understand your struggle.’ But it was all performative bullsh**.”
