Ellen DeGeneres finally speaks out on mean reputation? Everything to know
Earlier today The Hollywood Reporter declared that they had gotten their hands on a copy of a letter which Ellen DeGeneres sent to employees of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In it, she apologizes to employees for not being able to stay on top of everything as the show expanded, but promises to do better.
The letter comes out after an announcement that The Ellen DeGeneres Show is being investigated by Warner Brothers for potential workplace harassment. The investigation seems to be sparked by the fact multiple employees both past and present have come forward to describe a workplace filled with favoritism, racism, and other toxic behaviors.
Employees seem to have seen now as good a time as any to come forward, since Ellen DeGeneres has been under fire for mean behavior since October of 2019 with things continuing to escalate as 2020 goes on.
The letter begins with a statement that on day one of The Ellen DeGeneres Show it was stated that the set would “be a place of happiness”. DeGeneres admits “obviously something changed”. And takes responsibility insofar as that her name is on the show.
DeGeneres declares, “As we’ve grown exponentially, I’ve not been able to stay on top of everything and relied on others to do their jobs as they knew I’d want them done. Clearly some didn’t. That will now change and I’m committed to ensuring this does not happen again.”
The letter doesn’t specifically mention this, but The Hollywood Reporter also mentions that one of the three EPs on the show, Ed Galvin, is likely to be fired. Galvin has been the target of some of the worst accusations of what happens behind-the-scenes on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. This could be what DeGeneres was referring to.
DeGeneres also asserts that some people have been speaking on her behalf and misrepresenting her – we aren’t sure exactly what she’s referring to here, but it’s possible this is again referring to the actions of people who work on the show.
DeGeneres continues praising the fact conversations regarding fairness and justice are finally happening – whether she’s referring to culturally or on her show is left unspecified. Instead, she says, “We all have to be more mindful about the way our words and actions affect others, and I’m glad the issues at our show were brought to my attention.”
Ellen DeGeneres ends her letter saying, “If not for COVID, I’d have done this in person, and I can’t wait to be back on our stage and see you all then.”
The letter, while acknowledging the workplace investigation, doesn’t really do much else. In fact, it has so little information it kind of reads as if DeGeneres had a lawyer help her through the verbiage – assuming she’s even the one who wrote the letter, which is signed by her.
Meanwhile, The Ellen DeGeneres Show is seeing ratings absolutely tank, so whenever filming does return to the set, DeGeneres and her remaining crew will have quite the task proving the low numbers are related to the pandemic and not a loss of popularity.
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Ellen DeGeneres has yet to make a public statement regarding the various accusations against her or her show’s crew indicating that “be nice” isn’t so much a life motto for DeGeneres as it is a nice slogan to garner views.
