Ellen DeGeneres to address staff abuse allegations in talk show's season 18 premiere
Aux Features Ellen DeGeneres
Despite a robustly negative social media campaign and a rather publicized internal investigation, The Ellen DeGeneres Show will be making a comeback next month with its 18th season. The talk show’s titular host confirmed its return to an audience-free studio in a statement released on Tuesday, per The Daily Beast.
“I can’t wait to get back to work and back to our studio. And, yes, we’re gonna talk about it,” DeGeneres said.
The “it” she’s referring to here is the internal investigation that WarnerMedia launched in July after current and former employees complained of a culture of workplace abuse with allegations spanning from racist commentary to wrongful terminations. Ellen responded by denying any knowledge of the turmoil and Warner Bros. attempted to rectify the matter by firing three of the producers accused of the abusive behavior. There was also a weird moment when all of DeGeneres’ rich and powerful friends came to her defense in a not-at-all coordinated PR campaign, but it’s best not to dwell on cringeworthy memories.
Even after a rousing online campaign to expose DeGeneres of her allegedly mean behavior towards just about any non-famous person in her path, the comedian remained largely unscathed during an investigation that focused on the show’s operational executives rather than its host. Some high-profile figures like Brad Garrett and Lea Thompson (along with former partner Anne Heche, sort of?) stood in support of the employees. But now that those hard-working folks powering the Ellen machine can now brag about some cushy benefits like paid time off and clearance to attend doctors visits worry-free, it looks like things will just resume back to normal.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show will return to an audience-free studio on Monday, September 21st. Tiffany Haddish is slated as the show’s first season 18 guest.
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[Show opens. Glassy-eyed employee after glassy-eyed employ step out on stage to say the following…]“Ellen DeGeneres is the kindest, warmest, bravest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.”
Boking accidents are surprisingly common in Hollywood.
I almost spit out my coffee.
“She’s much better than Cats. I’m going to work for her again and again.”
For reasons I will never understand, I recently watched Cats. That’s a lot of preamble to say your comment made me laugh my ass off.
Oooh, I ‘membah!
“Good. Now that that’s settled-[lays down the Queen of Diamonds in front of Jennifer Lawrence]-are you ready to reveal your pregnancy to the world?”
“There is no war in Ba Sing Se.”
“… and I’m very, very, very sorry.”[Long pause]“Now let’s dance!”
Yeah, I’m having such a hard time picturing this because her show’s tone is so antithetical to this sort of thing that her actually talking about it just seems jarring. Either she brushes it off with a joke (which would be horrible) or she puts on a serious face to talk about it for 5 minutes, then dances with a goofy grin for the rest of the show. It just doesn’t really fit, and just seems disingenuous now that we know about the woman behind the curtain, so to speak.
Is dancing like a white guy a ‘thing’ for comedians?
“Well…this is awkward…”
… That’s a hell of a lot of links for 3/2 paragraphs … You don’t trust Ellen, AV Club, do you?
Real journalism would be backstopping its claims with sources. Most of those are just an AV Club circle jerk to get clicks.
So what famous guest will sit behind her on some couch and nod approvingly to provide tacit forgiveness on the audience’s behalf? Oprah? A Kardashian maybe?
She’ll be unveiling the new Kardashian/Oprah hybrid, the Kardoprah, in the premiere for this very purpose.
I (seriously) think Jen Aniston? They’re friends? Ehhh.
as long as it’s not gillian anderson
George W. Bush
Ellen walks out to thunderous canned applause. She has a new white suit, and the set has new furnishings. Instead of couches, it has human chairs and benches. Ellen picks carefully and sits on employee #4, formerly known as Samantha. She swirls her glass of white wine and says “As far as the recent allegations are concerned, I want to assure everyone that I was just as shocked and horrified as you all were, and I’ve taken steps to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. You won’t hear any more complaints from this studio!” *winks* *plays laugh track*
Rewarded with her best ever ratings . . .
I brought this up in a discussion before, but again, what do people want to see happen to the show? Besides Eric Andre taking over. Personally- I dislike this show. But I don’t want to see anyone lose their jobs (the crew) and it doesn’t bother me if the show exists. But things need to change.
Some folks were hoping for a cancellation, mostly because Ellen got too cozy with Dubya (which, yes, she was full of shit for trying to justify that). But it was delusional to think she would just get cancelled right off the bat. I’m sure plenty of people will be watching to see the phony apology but I’m guessing the show will fizzle out within a year or so.
Just change her name and the show’s name to Karen and leave it as is.
Some high-profile figures like Brad Garrett and
Howard the Duck has a higher profile these days.
I’m asking because I’m genuinely curious and don’t know…but when it comes to all the allegations about paid time off, health benefits and other employment standards, aren’t nearly all television staff union employees? I thought these decisions were made by the Hollywood unions for these employees, not the shows themselves.