Nobody predicted that 2020 would turn out to be such a difficult year. Ellen DeGeneres expected it least of all. Her world has changed completely, for the worse as allegations against her daytime show ‘The Ellen Degeneres Show’ rocked her. The allegations were regarding workplace misconduct on the show. These also include racist remarks and sexual misconduct.
The cause of this is the exit of three producers of the show. On Monday, Warner Bros confirmed this via a spokesperson. These producers are, Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman (executive producers) and Jonathan Norman (co-executive producer).
Their exits came amidst a Buzzfeed report which claimed about toxic workplace culture on the sets of the show. It included interviews with 36 former employees of the show.
The report also carried complaints against the three producers who’ve exited the show. Though the people interviewed are unidentified.
Naturally, news publications reached the three producers, respective teams, for their comments. A representative of Leman did not respond to a request, while Glavin and Norman’s didn’t appear.
Buzzfeed had published the story online on July 30. At that time Leman had denied any kind of ‘sexual impropriety, while Norman had categorically denied the allegations.
All these claims were hard for Ellen to see surface. On Monday, she held a video conference in which, she informed the staff about the shakeup as per Variety. She informed them that it was ‘heartbreaking’ for her to know about the toxic environment on the show’s set.
After the Buzzfeed article had appeared last month, Ellen had sent a memo to her staff and reiterated her earlier promise of keeping a safe workplace environment. “Something changed, and for that I’m sorry’, she had written in the memo.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show had made its debut in 2003.