After a tumultuous summer in which she was accused of fostering a toxic work environment, talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres publicly apologized on camera in the opening monologue for season 18 of her daytime talk show.
Walking out onto her studio set as her virtual audience welcomed her, Ellen immediately said she takes full responsibility for reports about her show not living up to its “be kind” reputation.
“As you may have heard, this summer there were allegations of a toxic work environment at our show and then there was an investigation. I learned that things happened here that never should have happened,” she began. “I take that very seriously and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected. I know that I’m in a position of privilege and power and I realized that with that comes responsibility, and I take responsibility for what happens at my show.”
“This is ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show.’ I am Ellen DeGeneres. My name is there, my name is there, my name is on underwear,” she continued. “We have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks about the show, our workplace, and what we want for the future. We have made the necessary changes and today we are starting a new chapter.”
Ellen then went on to address the various articles and reports about her private behavior — reports alleging that her phrase “be kind” was a sham. Ellen defended herself, saying she adopted the phrase in 2010 after gay teenager Tyler Clementi committed suicide after being bullied.
“There were also articles in the press and on social media that said that I am not who I appeared to be on TV because I became known as the ‘be kind’ lady. And here’s how that happened: I started saying, ‘be kind to one another’ after a young man named Tyler Clementi took his own life after being bullied for being gay,” DeGeneres said.
“I thought the world needed more kindness and it was a reminder that we all needed that, and I think we need it more than ever right now,” she continued. “Being known as the ‘be kind’ lady is a tricky position to be in. So let me give you some advice out there if anybody’s thinking of changing their title or giving yourself a nickname, do not go with the ‘be kind’ lady. Don’t do it.”
Getting more serious, Ellen assured people that she is the person that they see on TV and that she is dedicated to bringing people joy in a dark time.
“The truth is I am that person that you see on TV. I am that person that you see on TV. I am also a lot of other things. Sometimes I get sad, I get mad, I get anxious, I get frustrated, I get impatient. I am working on all of that. I am a work in progress. I’m especially working on the impatience thing, and it’s not going well because it’s not happening fast enough, I’ll tell you that,” she said.
In late July, a BuzzFeed News article claimed that several former employees witnessed head writer and executive producer Kevin Leman sexually propositioning or groping lower-level employees.
“One ex-employee said head writer and executive producer Kevin Leman asked him if he could give him a handjob or perform oral sex in a bathroom at a company party in 2013. Another said they separately saw Leman grab a production assistant’s penis,” BuzzFeed reported. “In May 2017, another former employee also said she saw Leman grope a production assistant in a car and kiss his neck.”
“Nearly a dozen former employees, who range from longtime, senior-level employees to production assistants, said it was also common for Leman to make sexually explicit comments in the office, like pointing out male colleagues’ bulges in their crotches, or ask them questions like, ‘Are you a top or a bottom?’” the report continued.
A former employee said that Kevin’s comments were often “masked in sarcasm” to soften their delivery.
“He’d probably do it in front of 10 people and they’d laugh because ‘it’s just Kevin being Kevin,’ but if you’re in a position of power at a company, you don’t just get to touch me like that,” a former employee said.
Kevin Leman has denied the accusations outright.
In a statement on Monday, a lawyer for Kevin Leman said that Ellen DeGeneres fired an innocent man based on a faulty report.
“The fact that a deeply flawed BuzzFeed article has led to the termination of an innocent man — a popular figure and a creative force behind the ‘Ellen’ show and a string of other projects produced with Ellen – is shocking,” said Leman attorney Michael Plonsker. “Kevin is devastated by being scapegoated and is not yet ready to comment.”
“I started at the Ellen Show as a PA more than 17 years ago and have devoted my career to work my way to the position I now hold,” said Leman. “While my job as head writer is to come up with jokes — and, during that process, we can occasionally push the envelope — I’m horrified that some of my attempts at humor may have caused offense. I have always aimed to treat everyone on the staff with kindness, inclusivity, and respect. In my whole time on the show, to my knowledge, I’ve never had a single HR or inter-personal complaint made about me, and I am devastated beyond belief that this kind of malicious and misleading article could be published.”
A total of 47 former employees accused executive producer Ed Glavin of fostering a culture of fear and intimidation on a daily basis. Some even said he would use his private shower in his office bathroom with the door wide open.
“You’d be going into his office for an important meeting and the shower door is open and you’re like, that’s a little weird,” a former employee said. “The shower is right when you walk in on the right. Before you even see his desk, you see his shower. He’d be openly showering and going into meetings with wet hair.”
Another former employee also accused co-executive producer Jonathan Norman of grooming him over a period of time by “taking him to concerts and other work-related perks, and then one night attempted to perform oral sex on him.”
“We’re young people who were forming our careers and were unfortunately subjected to a toxic work environment as some of our first jobs out of college,” the former employee said. “And some of us were sexually harassed and that’s what was shaping our careers our first year out of school.”
Speaking to her staff on Monday, Ellen DeGeneres was reportedly “emotional to the point of tears” as she announced the firings and apologized to her more than 200 staffers. Ellen reportedly told her staff that she was “not perfect” and understood that people at her show were not treated like human beings in order to run it as a “well-oiled machine.”
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