Several former employees of The Ellen Degeneres Show say they’re happy the once-beloved daytime talk show queen is finally getting her comeuppance after years of alleged abuse and bad behavior.
“I think this is ‘consequence culture’,” one former employee tells Buzzfeed. “People are like, ‘cancel culture,’ but no, this is a consequence of somebody and an institution that got away with fostering a super unhealthy and toxic work environment for a really long time.”
Ellen announced last month that she was ending her one-hit daytime talk show after 19 years, saying it was “just not a challenge anymore” and that she wanted to try something new.
“I was going to stop after season 16,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “That was going to be my last season and they wanted to sign for four more years and I said I’d sign for maybe for one.”
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But according to another former employee, that simply isn’t true. It was Ellen’s summer of scandal last year that did her in.
“The show took a tank,” they say. “She’s unlikeable now.”
According to the New York Times, Nielsen data showed Ellen’s viewership fell by over 1 million people this season, going from 2.6 million viewers to 1.5 million viewers.
The former employee adds that they believe “she only came back to this past season because she probably had to [in order] to save face.”
Another former employee agrees, telling Buzzfeed that if the show’s ratings had held up, Ellen would’ve gladly kept cashing those multi-million dollar paychecks and soaking up the applause while those around her suffered.
“If the ratings were still phenomenal, if her ratings were wonderful and none of this stuff came out about the show, why wouldn’t she sign on for another five years like Oprah and do 25 years?” they say. “If none of this came out, she’d still be going strong, laughing all the way to the bank, and getting that daily applause.”
And another person says that, despite claiming to be “devastated” by the attacks against her, Ellen still doesn’t understand where things went wrong, saying she “lacks humility” and won’t “take any kind of responsibility for the fact that this happened under her umbrella.”
“She said, ‘Oh, this hurt me so deeply’,” they say. “You have a billion bucks in your bank account. It didn’t hurt you that deeply.”
All of the former employees who spoke to Buzzfeed expressed hope that the funny lady’s downfall might inspire a cultural shift within the industry, particularly around working conditions and accountability.
“I hope that it’s highlighting more of that toxic f*cking environment that you guys can’t get away with too much anymore,” one of the former employees says. “There are places that you can be at where work is good.”
“It all comes out in the wash at the end, and you realize this is really what she deserves and what the show deserves,” another adds.
“The truth came out. I’m glad it finally came out,” a third former employee says. “She’s going down with a stain on her name. That whole show is just going down with the truth.”
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
Cam
I’m glad that finally toxic, hostile workplaces are starting to get cleaned up. Everybody is just trying to support themselves and don’t need to be attacked or abused by some monster at work.
Centrism
Delete your sock puppet account, Cam.
Cam
@Centrism
Awwwww, the right wing, anti-LGBTQ troll account has cycled through all of it’s other deflection games and is back to trying to accuse others of what it does.
Sweetie, I and others on here have pointed out multiple times that we all know you are here under numerous screenames. I should stop assuming that you could come up with any better defense than “I know you are but what am I?”.
Quick now! Switch over to your MissTerri Screename so you can say something unrelated or just type “HilARious” That’ll show me!!!
Your Troll game is sad and weak.
Centrism
I’m a gay man, you lunatic. lol
Liquid Silver
I’m back to ignoring it. It’s gone full insane. “Never go full [insane].” In reality, it’s just a paid troll with all day on its hands to make the left look bad. Nobody could possibly be this irreducibly stupid.
Heywood Jablowme
@Liquid Silver: “we all know you are here under numerous screenames.”
Notice the “we” lately? He’s turning into Queen Victoria, or maybe Sybil (Sally Field). Creating an endless array of new personalities to argue with “himself” and his previous personalities!
winemaker
I heard ellen degenerate is leaving the USA and immigrating to Australia. nice, with all of her money, i ‘m sure she can speed up things so what’s the delay.? With her there and not here we won’t be subject to her almost daily drama of ‘oh woe is me’. Nobody with a life really gives a rats ass about her and for those who still watch her show, why? Evidently you have a lot of free time to piss away on somebody who wouldn’t spit or piss on somebody if they were on fire.
Liquid Silver
@Heywood: Yep. I expect to find he’s also half the “persons” he argues with as he can’t handle anything but a very basic strawman (anything else he just says you’re a copycat account as a deflection from being unable to think). As well as paid pennies for each remark by Putin’s Little Bank Account.
Far from being annoyed by Miss Terri, I think he IS Miss Terri.
Cam
@Heywood Jablowme @Centerism
See, that’s where you always blow it. You take already identified troll screenames and try to boost your own posts or talk to each other as if you think that’s going to stop anybody from calling you out.
Keep obsessing over me troll, it’s delicious. And I’ll just keep calling out your anti-LGBTQ screenames wherever you pop up.
MissTerri
Poor old Cam!!!!!!!!
Heywood Jablowme
@Cam/Sybil: “already identified troll screenames”
But who “identifies” these troll screenames? It ain’t Queerty. It’s merely you, with your crystal ball and tarot cards and your utter LACK of access to IP addresses. It’s you, who has even admitted to using another screen name. Liquid Silver’s theory makes sense to me. You are Miss Terri, at the very least, and probably many others.
Liquid Silver
@Heywood: Exactly. Queerty would block by IP address if they found copycats. They don’t. Therefore, Cam is simply not telling the truth.
By acting like he has some power to “verify” trolls, however, Cam’s way overstepping his zero power here. Or, simply put, what a poser.
MissTerri
Leave Cam alone! The poor Dear is clearly Senile!!!!!!!!!!
Liquid Silver
@Miss Terri: And we’re not laughing with him, we’re laughing AT him.
Leash
@Liquid So is Cam = MissTerri confirmed or what its hard to follow who is who anymore.
@Cam I sincerely mean this in your best interest whoever you are: Can you not start every post with “Awww, the right wing troll account this & that, how cute” I need a little bit more variation.
You also called me an alternative account of someone once, but we can’t all be the 2nd or 3rd account of someone. And even if we are, you can’t prove it, it just makes you look paranoid. If I were you I would focus more on refuting their arguments and not respond to every little provocation.
Fahd
Workplace reform, especially in the world of TV, is long overdue. I am glad people are speaking out; only way things will change.
As for lost-cause Ellen, poor dear will have to rely on dividends and capital gains from now on if she wants to keep the $500K principal intact. Good riddance!
LumpyPillows
Oh, they’ll come for Oprah too eventually. It’s how mobs work.
Kangol2
No one’s coming for Oprah except the beef industry, which tried to destroy her when she told the truth about them. She defeated them, but when it comes to workplace environments and treating employees well, Oprah has received extensive praise.
Liquid Silver
Even Oprah isn’t a legend and it’s all right out in the open. For proof, I offer Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil. If you present your audience with pseudoscience and theater in the place of facts, you’ve already lost the right to “legendary” status.
Doug
You’ve just described about 90% of television. When was the last time you watched a “reality” show?
Liquid Silver
Once, for about twenty minutes. Which is why I’m highly critical of those who do, or think they’re “reality.”
Or, for that matter, think that anybody or anything on television is worthy of “legendary” status, really. There are rare exceptions–I’ll give nods to a few people. But very few.
Heywood Jablowme
No, someone is “legendary” as long as there are people telling legends about her. (Preferably over a campfire and smores, but those are optional.) There will be legends about Mean Ellen for many years to come!
radiooutmike
Don’t forget Oprah was a platform for Jenny McCarthy and vaccines cause autism schtick. Never you mind having given Dr. Andrew Wakefield a forum as well.
skeldare
It’s almost as if people aren’t as nice as they appear on TV.
Liquid Silver
It’s almost as if TV weren’t reality. Scary, I know…
inbama
Gay men used to be sophisticated enough to know the best of an actor is what’s on stage.
Seems we’ve become just like the ignorant masses. We don’t demand genius from our artists, but middle-class morality. If Oscar Wilde were alive today, we’d have dumped him faster than you can say Kevin Spacey.
Ronbo
Yes, inbama is right. Graham Gremore will continue to attack gays and lesbians. Graham falsely attacked gay politician Alex Morse to kill his political career and attacked the gay reporter who pointed out Graham’s anti-gay/lesbian bias.
We need better editors, authors and people seeking twitter-followers. Graham would likely have incited book burning with Oscar Wilde.
MHaumesser
Ellen has a net worth of $450 million! I’m sure she’s going to be just fine!
Chrisk
That’s why I always get a kick out of these discussions. She could buy the network she’s on if she wanted or never work again if that’s what she wants. Either way she’s in way better shape then anyone here passing judgement.
Toofie
Yes, Ellen will be more than fine. The piling on and treating every story as fact is a bit much.,
inbama
@Toofie
You’d almost think the gay news outlets hated lesbians.
belugafan
Ummm. She is a legend. Numerous awards and well over a decade of work in the environment. She is a gay icon and a tv legend. What the heck is with queerty and their obsession with negative reporting on Ellen?
Openminded
I have to agree with you on this. Not saying I really like Ellen and I don’t doubt she might be quite a bit bullyish. The biggest thing I got from these 3- former employee’s statements is that they begrudge her accumulated wealth. IMHO, All her employees were adults, no child labor reported, which means everyone of those who are screaming about the terrible workplace atmosphere should have the intelligence to have spoken up and said “I QUIT”, when and if the workplace got unbearable. Instead, they all kept cashing their checks from her until, like a pack of dogs, one jumped on her and the rest joined in. Life is way too short to stay in a bad job environment. Any and everyone there that wasn’t enjoying the job should have left when the enjoyment was over. Again, I’m not saying Ellen probably isn’t a b*tch, but this was an adult workplace filled with what should have been competent people able to make their own choices to move on.
Cam
@Openminded
And here AGAIN, another already identified troll screename coming in to lie about the situation.
I love it when right wing trolls always try to minimize what happens to employees because they are here to advocate for horrible working conditions. “A bit bullying”. A weird way to describe years and years of systematic attacks on her employees firing people for getting pregnant, interfering with people’s livelihoods.
You scream bloody murder if somebody says they don’t like Melania’s dress and cry that she is so bullied, but somebody attacks their employees for years and here you are defending it.
Leash
They say never meet your idols for a reason. So what? Queerty doesn’t say “lets shit on everything she has done”. Just because she helped queer people become more visible back then and got alot of awards (like awards mean sh*t) she shouldn’t be hold accountable??
@Openminded And I’m sure alot of employees did that. But not everyone can afford to just give up a job if they feel like “it doesn’t make them happy anymore”. Some people just endure a job to pay the rent. I don’t understand why you’re putting blame on them instead of the horrible work atmosphere. So what if people quit, where is the solution here? That changes nothing for people who come after them. I’m happy that Ellen got exposed and hopefully it will be a reminder to others in positions of power to treat their employees less like sh*t.
Kangol2
Ellen has been in show business for at least three decades, so her fame rests on more than this talkshow.
Mr. Stadnick
I have a friend who was her next door neighbor for a while. They shared a access road so I met her a few times and she was never NOT unpleasant. I was telling another friend that one night and she said she had had similar interactions. I was not at all surprised she was a nightmare to work for.
lykeitiz
Some bitchy, disgruntled queens may have driven her off of her show in today’s cancel culture, but they’re in for a rude awakening when they realize she’s ALREADY a TV legend like Oprah.
Cam
And by bitchy disgruntled queens you mean all of her employees, other people in the industry as well as other celebs.
Where are any of her employees defending her? Haven’t seen them.
Oh, and interesting that to defend Ellen you use an anti-LGBTQ slur. Hmmmm
MissTerri
Poor old Cam!!!!!!!!!!
Cam
@MissTerri
Awww, the right wing troll account can’t dispute the comment, so keeps on trying. lol
BoredReader
Am I missing something , but it sounds to me like the people complaining are doing it from outside her organization or have lined up jobs with competitors, if she gets cancelled surely all her employees who need to put up with this treatment to get experience/ pay bills will be unemployed.
Leash
They were “former employees” so yeah they probably are now “outside” the organisation. I’m not getting what you’re trying to say here.
“or have lined up jobs with competitors” source? The article just calls them “former employees” not that they now work for a competitor. I mean, it would make sense for them to look for a similar job, but – oh wait, is that what you’re trying to say? That competitors wanted to get rid of Ellen and its all a huge conspiracy?
Regarding your sympathy for the remaining employees: Isn’t Kelly Clarkson taking over Ellens spot? I would assume they’ll just keep the ones who work there. But even if not, it’s good that the truth came out.
mailliw110
Just because one show stops doesn’t mean the stage hands will work no more. That’s not how this business works.
malerntogo
Ellen, be off with you before someone drops a house on you!
MissTerri
So many Brave Anonymous accusers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Leash
But not as brave as being a anonymous internet troll. Hi-LAR-ious?
ashersea
You cannot assume that just because a company is run by LGBT or gay-friendly person at the top, that oppressed culture will not exist.
Leash
Thats true equality <3
Kangol2
Some of the very rigid binaristic thinking on here is surprising to read. You can be legendary and pioneering and a major figure in your field while also being a difficult to impossible boss and a crappy person in general to deal with. Ellen will still have fans no matter whether her show is off the air, but if she can’t treat her employees well, or large portions of them, then she’s going to have problems no matter what, especially today, where such things can’t be swept under the rug. I will always be grateful to Ellen DeGeneres for her pioneering steps with her sitcom in the 1990s and a lot of the good work she has done on behalf of LGBTQ and other causes. Those things are real. On the other hand, she sounds like she’s a nightmare to work with and deal with if you are not a close friend, which makes me glad I don’t have to work for or deal with her on a regular basis.
Ken A.
Sounds to me these employees weren’t doing their jobs and when she started to crack the whip, they cried toxic workplace. But they stayed instead of leaving which is quite telling. This isn’t accountability culture this is lying culture, lazy culture, I don’t want to work but want to get paid culture. We bring a lot of shit upon ourselves sometimes. I know, sounds like I’m “victim” blaming. No, just calling out, I’m not responsible culture.
Leash
That’s EXCATELY what it sounds like. Especially since you’re just making baseless assumptions about how those people did or did not do their job lol. Hey if you have a boot licking fetish I’m not kinkshaming you, just to make that clear.
bsg1967
If someone is a nightmare to work for you tend to look elsewhere and become a “former employee”. My fave thing about all this is the famous defending her totally clueless.
Consider This
Those bitter former employees should be GLAD they no longer work for “horrible” Ellen! They are very lucky indeed.
Perhaps the group can get together and remember old times with a glass of two of sour grape wine.
cuteguy
I applaud Ellen for advancing lgbtq representation but she shouldn’t get a pass for cultivating a toxic work environment just bc she’s gay