Ellen DeGeneres had a no good, very bad month of July. Between rumors of her reported coldness, allegations of workplace abuse, and now alleged sexual misconduct by some of her top producers, insiders say she may just cancel her daytime talk show altogether.
Speaking with the Daily Mail, an insider at Telepictures, which produces “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” said that Ellen has entered into talks with top executives about canceling her daytime talk show.
“She feels she can’t go on and the only way to recover her personal brand from this is to shut down the show,” the insider said, as reported by Fox News.
The insider even went as far as to say that Ellen knew about the alleged abuse on her show and should bear the ultimate blame.
“The truth is she knew what was going on, it’s her show. The buck stops with her. She can blame every executive under the sun – but Ellen is ultimately the one to blame,” the insider said.
“Inside Telepictures we’ve had enough of her. She is a phony who does not practice what she preaches,” the source continued. “The behavior of her show executives has been appalling, but [Ellen] is no better. In fact, she is the worst. It’s outrageous that she is trying to pretend that this is all a shock to her. The fish rots from the head, and Ellen is the head.”
The Telepictures insider also claimed that Ellen “hates coming to work” and “struggles to be nice to people and has utter contempt for her audience.'”
“She has been phoning it in for so long, and only staying for the money and celebrity it affords her,” the insider said. “We’ve dealt with her BS for so many years, she’s not innocent at all, she’s not nice and the show is not filled with happiness.”
In an apology last week, Ellen, however, claimed that she delegated tasks to her top leadership and knew nothing about the toxic work environment.
“On day one of our show, I told everyone in our first meeting that ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ would be a place of happiness – no one would ever raise their voice, and everyone would be treated with respect,” she said. “Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry. Anyone who knows me knows it’s the opposite of what I believe and what I hoped for our show.”
One anonymous staffer called Ellen a liar and a phony, asserting that nobody should take the apology seriously.
“Don’t think for a minute anything she has said in that apology means anything. She created and then enabled this toxic culture to go on for so long,” the staffer told the Daily Mail. “If anyone had come to her or those three vile [executive producers] to complain, they would’ve been fired.”
Despite the reports, Ellen’s executive producer Andy Lassner tweeted, “Nobody is going off the air.”
Nobody is going off the air.
And #GoKingsGo— andy lassner (@andylassner) July 30, 2020
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