Nick Danger

Is being a tough boss just part of running a daily show? I saw stories about Letterman being brutal to work for when he was at NBC.

JeffTheAlpaca

If this true I am shocked since I thought Ellen was smart and not let this stuff happen under her watch.


https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...210726561.html

Count Dooku

There's an embedded link to the article "alleging racism and intimidation" but the charges of just one former employee are detailed in the article.

One employee, who claims she was fed up with comments about her race, essentially walked off the job.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.”

“He said that I was walking around looking resentful and angry,” she said.

After the meeting, she left work for the day and never returned to The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She said she has no plans to ever work in the entertainment industry again.

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 bullshit.”

After one year at Ellen, she said she asked for a raise after learning another recent hire made double for doing the same job, despite her having worked in the television industry for a decade. Her manager told her “they’d see what they could do,” but months went by and nothing happened, she said.

The former employee said she was also called into a meeting with executive producer Ed Glavin, where she was reprimanded for her objections to the term “spirit animal,” asking for a raise, and suggesting employees on the show receive diversity and inclusion training.

So, I know we are not supposed to post long quotes without offering something of our own to say about it.

I'm a middle-aged, white male administrator, and she sounds like someone who showed up on the job looking for slights and attacks. I gotta admit, I have no fucking clue why spirit animal is offensive, and if you're complaining about that and you don't have a really solid explanation for it, I'm gonna decide the problem is you.

Mike86

It seems out of character at least from what we know of her that Ellen would knowingly let this go on and do nothing about it. She seems like someone who’s for inclusivity whether it’s regarding race, gender, or sexual orientation. Not to say that there couldn’t be some bad apples on the set, but I think if she knew she’d do something.

Count Dooku

I don't think anyone can put it on Ellen to be aware of every comment one of her producers makes to an employee or every "joke" that a writer makes at a party.

Mike86

Realistically no, but in today’s climate where everyone is ultra sensitive and more than ready to pin the blame to someone I could see her getting some of the blame.

Count Dooku

Her name is on the show, so she can't escape responsibility, but what are the criticisms?
Union employees complaining about the amount of compensation they are receiving for not working.
One very vocal former employee with a lot of complaints about micro-aggressions she suffered because she is black
And then some general complaining from a small group that this corporate workplace isn't run like a hippie commune and isn't a fantasy land of love and good vibes.

Red Hood

From what I've read online from people who worked at the show, this culture of racism, harassment and other bullshit has been going on for years and it starts at the top with Ellen herself. The story was that the whole "Queen of Nice" Ellen has is just in front of the cameras and that behind the scenes she's is one of the worsts people ever. Seeing this being investigated didn't come as a surprise for me at all.

Count Dooku

This investigation all stems from reports/complaints about the show in 2020, all of which are detailed in the Variety and Buzzfeed articles.
In the current cultural climate, no charges of racial discrimination can just be waved off, but if you read the accusations being made, it is clear (at least to me) that this is almost all coming from one angry ex-employee.

brayzie

From the Buzzfeed Article, it was three employees, but most of the article was on the first one. The article cites another news story from Ellen's former bodyguard where it's said she had an "unfriendly and selfish demeanor." A former guest on Ellen's show said she was "cold." If there's legit criticism of the work environment at Ellen and some form of abuse is going on, then of course, investigate it. But a lot of this other stuff is just people Chatty Patties and wanting to pile on. "Well, I heard..."-type of gossiping. Someone complains that she showed preferential treatment to the A-list guests. That's a news story? Another story where the bodyguard revealed Ellen didn't say hi or make conversation with him?

JeffTheAlpaca

Kimmel did a lot worse and he still has his job.

bluesix

I worked in entertainment for 15 years and was on set with a lot of big name talent. They all behave badly at some point. I think its just human nature.
When you have so much adulation and are surrounded by sycophants wanting to be in your entourage how can you not become an asshole thinking you are entitled?

That being said, I have a friend who was a vendor working for Ellen and her reputation of being a shrewd cold businesswoman is deserved. She portrays a character on her show. That friendly lady preaching kindness who used to dance through the audience and cry about adopted pets is NOT the real her.

None of this surprises me but as others pointed out, the same has been said in the past about many others. (Letterman, Kimmel) I don't expect her show to survive this. Kelly Clarkson is already a hit and will steal most of her demographic. The Ellen show is just tired and I'm sure on some level she is tired of doing it but she needs that money coming in to maintain her lifestyle. The media seems to be eating up these stories and will keep them coming and Ellen's housewife audience will move on.

Ellen's biggest mistake was not being a meanspirited bitch. It was being a poor manager. You can't just deflect all the problems to your producers when your name is all over the show. She should have made changes years ago but part of those changes would have needed to be changing the way she deals with her staff and that's not going to happen.

clckworang

This is the first time I've heard that spirit animal is an offensive term.

milo bloom

It's been a thing for a while. For indigenous cultures, it's a deeply spiritual thing to them and when Becky from college says something like "mimosas are my spirit animal" it's a little dismissive of their beliefs.

For awhile JK Rowling said to use patronus instead, but now that she's a terf POS, the best thing to use IMHO is fursona.

Anyways, this really isn't surprising after seeing her at a baseball game with Bush. She's not about the little people, probably never was.

Hokeyboy

I love the "this can't be Ellen, she's The Queen of Nice!" argument against these allegations. "But Bill Cosby is America's Dad!"

Mike86

I mean it’s an apples and oranges comparison really. I get what you’re saying, but what she’s accused of (and really it’s more members of her staff than her directly) versus what Cosby actually did and is serving time for are radically different.

I’m not a huge Ellen fan or anything either. I casually will watch a segment if she’s on (more if my mom happens to have her on), but that’s it. I just feel like it’s way too easy to throw out accusations now days without a lot of proof and we’re just expected to believe the person doing the accusing.

Hokeyboy

I'm not equating Cosby's rape of 30+ women with Ellen just being a rancid c(u)nt, but responding to any allegation with some publicist's catchphrase is an exercise in vapidity.

And again, if it were a handful of allegations, no one would care. It's literally dozens up dozens of them submitted from former and current employees. Where there's smoke...

brayzie

Because she went to a baseball game with Bush?

Well, Michelle Obama is friends with George W. Bush too, “loves him to death”, and defended Ellen’s friendship with him. So she must also be a bad person, and whatever rumors or accusations get thrown at Michelle, must be true since she’s friends with Dubya.

JeffTheAlpaca

I think she said something online that people from both political parties could get along and Reese Witherspoon liked that quote.

If she was gone I would miss her show

She had the closest thing to having a late night talk show in the afternoon and she got the A-list guests and all the top notch musical talent performing on her show.

I did not watch it everyday but nice to know it was there if you wanted to watch it.

Drew Barrymore has a talk show so the competition is heating up.

brayzie

The criticism is not that George W. Bush is a Republican, it's that he invaded a country under false pretense. There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction. And it costs the lives of over 4,000 of our soldiers, and the lives of over 200,000 Iraqi civilians.

And under his administration he authorized torture of terrorists and people suspected of terrorism.

You can't just say, We hold different political opinions but we can still be friends!

Now, if she wants to watch a ball game with W I don't care too much. I'm more concerned with the people who were complicit in voting to authorize the Iraq invasion in the first place.

When her show first debuted I thought it was great. It probably is still good I just don't watch day-time television. But this whole thing about her putting up this "queen of nice" facade for the public...no shit. Of course entertainers are going to put up a particular persona for the public. If she promotes kindness and inclusivity through her show and public persona, that's a good thing, right? I wish more entertainers did that instead of promoting violence, drug use, promiscuity, materialism, and other vices. Is she a phony because she wasn't nice to her bodyguard or was "cold" off-camera to someone? Oh no, she watched a ball game with Dubya!

The actual issues and complaints former employees of the Ellen show have toward their bosses, whoever they may be should be handled by whatever legal means are available. But all this extra stuff about how she's not as nice off-camera as she is on-camera is so fucking petty. It reminds me of how women in the business world were called things like "bitch" for being tough and take charge, but men in the business world who acted the same way were called "assertive."

Hokeyboy

You know, I hadn't really watched daytime TV in decades... until COVID-19, and my wife and I have been working fulltime out of the house for the last four months. Sometimes I'll leave the TV on in the background while I work, mostly as background noise.

I gotta admit, Ellen's show kind of reminds me of the Dinah Shore/Mike Douglas daily afternoon shows from when I was a wee turtle. They were on for like 90 minutes every day and they were sort of a reassuring presence every day, with guests, music, etc. She kind of has that vibe that I guess.

Still - why do I believe these allegations about her and her show? I've always liked Ellen in general -- her standup from the 80s/early 90s was actually pretty funny back in the day. But somehow the accusations still ring totally true.

Count Dooku

Because like every single fucking performer in the history of entertainment, Ellen has a persona that she puts on for the public/camera.
And like brayzie says, she's a woman and she's the boss, so if she is tough or mean, she's labeled a horrendous bitch. But if David Letterman or Johnny Carson are complete assholes, which they were, it's all good because that's what being a tough man in charge is about.

Now, take everything you have ever heard about Ellen and all these charges (except the racist stuff) about what goes on in the ELLEN SHOW workplace, and guess what? You have a description of every single workplace in America.
"I got fired because I took an extended leave of absence; otherwise, I was a perfect employee."
"I got fired because the bosses had an irrational hatred of me."
"People weren't nice to me, but they were nice to everybody else."
"Jimmy Kimmel is paying his crew to stay home during the pandemic, but Ellen is only giving us part-time wages (for not working at all)."

The show has been on for 17 years, which means it has employed hundreds of people. If this place was truly terrible, you wouldn't be hearing a few vague complaints from a few people.

And again, all that racist stuff, which is what is driving the current concern and forcing investigation, is coming from ONE person.

The story behind EVERY daily TV show is the same. There is a lot of tension and pressure involved in making an hour of fun TV every day. These are not normal workplaces, and some people are not going to fit in. And sometimes a squeaky wheel is just a liability that can be replaced.
If you are working behind the scenes at a comedy show, and you have a thin skin about jokes, they just want you gone.

JeffTheAlpaca

She gave out a lot of money and checks to struggling families and people in need and reunited husbands who were fighting overseas with their families.

Count Dooku

Yeah, but she sometimes yells at her employees, and she was polite to a former Republican president, so those good things don't count for shit.

PhantomStranger

Syndicated daytime television is a lucrative and cutthroat business. Hard to read this situation from the outside without insider knowledge. Could be a few disgruntled employees with an ax to grind, or a move by rivals looking to open up her slot on stations across the country. Literally tens and hundreds of millions are on the line in revenue. Could even be her corporate bosses thinking they can get the same ratings with a cheaper replacement.

It appears to be an attempt to permanently damage her reputation so she doesn't come back on the air under another show.