#Ellen DeGeneres Breaks Silence on Toxic Workplace Allegations

Ellen DeGeneres has opened up about the toxic workplace allegations that have been leveled against her hit daytime talk show. 

DeGeneres sent a letter to the crew of the series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

She spoke about the accusations of bullying and mistreatment on the set that triggered an internal review by WarnerMedia.

DeGeneres says she always wanted her show to be “a place of happiness,” and “I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry.”

She also says that once she learned of the allegations, “we immediately began an internal investigation and we are taking steps, together, to correct the issues.”

The host implied that other executives on the show had failed to uphold her standards of conduct.

“That will now change, and I’m committed to ensuring this does not happen again,” she vows.

THR also notes that Ed Glavin, the EP at the center of some of the allegations, will be fired from the series.

DeGeneres states that she is “also learning that people who work with me and for me are speaking on my behalf and misrepresenting who I am, and that has to stop.”

She also vows “to do my part in continuing to push myself and everyone around me to learn and grow,” and wants her show to get back to being a place where everyone loves coming to work.

“I’m so sorry to anyone who didn’t have that experience.”

BuzzFeed News recently chatted with one current and 10 former employees, who opened up about their time with the show.

One African-American woman said she experienced what she described as “microaggressions” and was “reprimanded” by producer Ed Galvin.

This was allegedly in response to her asking for a raise, as well as asking that certain members of the staff should undergo diversity and inclusion training.

Another former spoke out about racist remarks by coworkers about her hairstyle. She said that a senior-level producer told her and a fellow Black employee, “Oh wow, you both have box braids; I hope we don’t get you confused.”

The people quoted in the Buzzfeed did not hold back when addressing the producers.

“People focus on rumors about how Ellen is mean and everything like that, but that’s not the problem,” one ex-employee said, adding: “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.”

“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.'”

Glavin, along with fellow EPs Mary Connelly and Andy Lassner, recently opened up about the Buzzfeed article. 

“Over the course of nearly two decades, 3,000 episodes and employing over 1000 staff members, we have strived to create an open, safe and inclusive work environment,” they said.

“It’s not who we are and not who we strive to be, and not the mission Ellen has set for us. “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.”

“We are truly heartbroken and sorry to learn that even one person in our production family has had a negative experience.”

Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.