The Kelly Clarkson Show accused of toxicity behind the scenes—report
The Kelly Clarkson Show is the latest daytime television series to field toxic workplace allegations
Aux News Kelly Clarkson
Turns out The Kelly Clarkson Show is a successor to The Ellen DeGeneres Show in more ways than one. Clarkson’s popular talk show is now also being accused of fostering a toxic workplace behind the scenes in a new Rolling Stone report. Eleven employees (one current, ten former) spoke to the outlet about their experiences, alleging bullying, verbal abuse, and retaliation from high-level producers, and no help from human resources when those issues were reported.
The main target of these complaints is not Kelly Clarkson, but executive producer Alex Duda, whom one staffer called “a monster.” Duda allegedly exhibited similar bad behavior at previous jobs including Steve Harvey and The Tyra Banks Show. These employees argue the EP fosters an environment of toxicity among other producers and has put staffers in “uncomfortable” positions, questioning one (white) employee as to “why don’t Black people want to see Kelly?” and reprimanding another for asking executive producers how the show would address the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes. The latter staffer says that after reporting the situation to HR, they were bullied and excluded from meetings and eventually left the show over perceived retaliation.
Producers under Duda are said to engage in bullying and verbal abuse. One employee quit after a producer “yelled and cursed at them multiple times on stage.” A production manager was observed throwing a stapler across the room, and “would speak in a way that you’re not supposed to in a professional environment—cursing, raising his voice, and throwing a huge temper tantrum,” said a former staffer. Those who did report issues to HR saw no progress, and producers who were the subject of complaints in fact got promotions. Meanwhile, staffers subject to this environment suffered extreme anxiety, some sharing that they had physical symptoms like stress-induced vomiting and one person saying they took a leave of absence and saw a psychiatrist for the first time.
All those on the record professed belief that Clarkson knew nothing about the strife of her lower-level staffers. (For what it’s worth, DeGeneres also claimed not to have known what was going on in the ranks beneath her when her show was fielding similar accusations.) “NBC is protecting the show because it’s their new moneymaker, but Kelly has no clue how unhappy her staff is,” one of the ex-employees said. “Kelly is fantastic. She is a person who never treats anyone with anything but dignity and is incredibly appreciative,” said another. “I would be shocked if she knew. I’d be floored if she knew the staff wasn’t getting paid for two weeks of Christmas hiatus. The Kelly that I interacted with and that everyone knows would probably be pretty aghast to learn that.”
Neither Clarkson nor any of the other producers commented on Rolling Stone’s story. It will be interesting to see how—or if—the culture changes upon the show’s move to New York City. (The Writers Guild of America is also reportedly investigating the show due to producers allegedly writing episodes, which is against the WGA’s Minimum Basic Agreement.) A current employee at The Kelly Clarkson Show speculated that daytime television as a whole encourages an inexplicably toxic culture. “All these daytime shows are supposed to make you feel good and be happy,” they said. “Kelly [Clarkson] uses a sign-off, ‘Make it a great day and if it’s not great, change it,’ but it’s hard to exist and work in a machine that’s pumping out this happy, bubbly, positive messaging and then you have people here who are just treated badly.” You can read the full report here.
91 Comments
My job sucks too. Management blows
Yeah my management is dildos but they’ve never thrown anything at me.
Not sure if the stapler was thrown AT someone or just generally at a wall, though.
I don’t remember them ever throwing anything at walls either. I throw stuff more than they do for sure but at least I can take it out on our parts recycling bin.
You recycle dildos?
Not even dildos?
No 🙁
Not even a dildo?
I worked at a place like that. A higher up threw something at staff that was putting an 18hr work day in. That happened around 8am. Three staff members quit by 3p. It was a summer stock theatre that had ridiculous turnaround times
This is why I work from home. Good luck throwing something far enough to hit me, suckers!…I just invited a drone strike on my house, didn’t I
While the whole “throwing staplers” thing is excessive, a lot of these kinds of articles that spin a yarn about a toxic workplace in showbiz definitely describe probably 90+% of workplaces in the US. That’s not a good thing, but if we’re gonna shine a light behind the scenes of talk shows, it’s worth mentioning how that spotlight could and should be expanded to workplace culture across the board.
without a celebrity hook, sites like this will never care on any level
For sure. I just wish that celeb focus served as a springboard for a discussion of how toxic many workplaces are, rather than narrowly focusing on trying to say “CELEB BAD”. In this case, it’s not even the celeb doing the bad things.
What’s a ‘stapler’?
Quit dicking around and get back to work.
This whole thing rings of naivety. Kelly definitely knew, but she insulates herself from the bad behavior to protect herself. Same way any successful “nice” boss thrives despite staff being treated poorly behind the scence.
At the same time, nothing that’s being described honestly sounds too egregious, more just stuff like senior staff is a bit older and stuck in their ways politically and socially (the Black people comment, the Asian crimescomment), and junior staff is more left-leaning, heavily online, and easy to be offended about anything.
This stands out to me — A production manager was observed throwing a stapler across the room, and “would speak in a way that you’re not supposed to in a professional environment—cursing, raising his voice, and throwing a huge temper tantrum,”
This definitely isn’t okay if the production manager was throwing said stapler at a person. But the way this is phrased — “speak in a way that you’re not supposed to in a professional manner” — sounds to me like it’s being said by a 22-year-old who has their first job out of college and is upset they got yelled at. Regardless of what job you have, you will have a boss that gets upset and yells at some point. I’d have to see a video or audio recording or more specific examples of how bad things are over there, but this sounds like standard TV production stuff to me. Not great, but not nearly as bad as Ellen, and probably not better or worse than anywhere else.
No. No, you should not ever have a job where another adult YELLS at you about work. Unless you are putting someone’s life at risk, no grown adult should ever YELL in the workplace. Like, oh, a report is late, and someone’s going to yell about it? They need to get some freaking therapy and be removed from the workplace.
“All those on the record professed belief that Clarkson knew nothing about the strife of her lower-level staffers. (For what it’s worth, DeGeneres also claimed not to have known what was going on in the ranks beneath her when her show was fielding similar accusations.)“
There’s a HUGE FUCKING DIFFERENCE between *the complainants* saying it isn’t Clarkson bullying people and *Ellen* saying it wasn’t Ellen bullying people.
Those two things are completely unrelated and shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence as one has nothing to do with the other.
One is credible, the other is absolutely not credible.
I bet she knows now. Heads will roll.
One employee was heard lamenting “oh, I can’t believe it’s happening to me!”
EPs hate this one simple trick!
She won the Publishers’ Clearing House Sweepstakes?
She was given a superhero outfit from aliens?
Was someone writing the first paragraph to EVERY “letter” published in Playboy?
“BEEECAUSE of you…I am afraid….”
Welcome to the American workplace. You WILL get screwed over.The only variables are how much and how often.
“reprimanding another for asking executive producers how the show would address the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes.”This is toxic? Really? If you ask a stupid question, you should expect someone to call you dumb for asking it. Just saying.
How is that a stupid question? Is that not something that should be on the table for it’s potential to be turned into daytime pap?
Maybe I’m reading too much into it from personal interactions with entitled and tone-deaf idiots.But I read that as less “hey, here’s a suggestion for a proposed topic” and more “I demand to know why we aren’t covering MY personal cause.” And yeah, the latter as a question to your boss and without appropriate context is quite dumb.
I think “We’re not going to address it” is a valid answer for a particular EP to give, but reprimanding someone for even asking seems excessive.
Doesn’t seem excessive to me.If the process at the company is that the person asking isn’t involved in that decision making, the question is inappropriate. And it’s always valid to reprimand an employee for asking inappropriate questions. That way they know not to do it again.Sure, personally I might be a bit softer and try to couch the reprimand more as advice or a general guideline. But that’s being extra nice to avoid hurting feelings. Someone with a more direct conversational style might just directly tell them not to do it. And I don’t think that being direct is “toxic”.
Glad I don’t work for you
In what kind of workplace is asking a question like this “inappropriate”? That’s the sticking point. At my company, there are tons of issues I’m not directly involved in the decision-making of, and for literally none of them would I be reprimanded for going to my boss and asking a question about them. They may tell me an answer that isn’t what I was looking for, but getting in trouble for asking a question is a sure sign of terrible leadership. It might be different if I asked the same question a bunch of times because I didn’t like the answer, but there’s no indication whatsoever that that is what happened here.
“If the process at the company is that the person asking isn’t involved in that decision making, the question is inappropriate”Yeah this is definitely a petty management strategy. “How very dare you make a suggestion that is outside of your specific job description??!!” A boss who would get that pissed off about that flies off the handle about a lot of bullshit regularly, guaranteed. A good boss welcomes feedback and ideas wherever they come from, and appreciates her employees taking an interest in all aspects of the company’s success.
You’re such a cop lol
“And it’s always valid to reprimand an employee for asking inappropriate questions. That way they know not to do it again.”There is something wrong with you.
Doesn’t seem excessive to me.Note to self: never work for… Snooder87.
The latter isn’t even a question, plus it’s weird that you would interpret that statement in that way, or that you consider anti-AAPI violence one particular person’s or group’s personal cause and not something everyone should care about. And even if it were a personal cause…why would they be reprimanded for it? Couldn’t he just say no?
They should be reprimanded for wasting time.Sure, the answer could just be no. But the point isn’t really the answer. It’s that having to take time away from a scheduled and planned topic of discussion to handle an irrelevant digression is disruptive and a rude imposition on others.
I think what matters here is what’s meant by “reprimand.” If it’s basically just pulling the person aside and letting them know that wasn’t the right venue for that question, I don’t have a problem with such a “reprimand.” But if it’s some formal “write up” with HR, nah, fuck that. Someone who reports to me would have to continually ask inappropriate questions, even after being asked to bring them to a more appropriate forum, before I’d bother getting involved with HR bullshit.And FWIW, I always let my staff know that they can bring essentially anything up to me in our regular 1:1 meetings – those are their time and frankly I’d rather listen to them rant to me than get themselves in trouble by bringing some of these things up elsewhere.
Considering the employee was the one to escalate to HR, I assume it was the “letting them know it wasn’t the right venue” situation. Probably with a bit less tact.
At the company I’m employed, I don’t always hear the problems of other member of the staff. Some due to not always being on site and others because people feel weird asking. It’s important for the “name” to be asking staff at all levels what they don’t know and what they might do to improve a situation. Sometimes it’s nothing, sometimes it’s the person just needs to be heard and other times its very serious (and some other person is trying to hide the truth).Managing “down” is more than just issuing directives. You lose staff and morale quickly if you remain aloof to concerns.
For wasting the literal 10 seconds it took to ask a question? And what “planned topic of discussion”? They didn’t say it was a meeting about something else and they brought it up. It could have been brought up as they passed in the hallway, or as they were trailing out of another meeting. And if the agenda item was “possible show topics,” then it is the “planned topic of discussion.” Again, this is just a sign of a boss who gets off on petty power trips.
I’ve been on the receiving end of blowback for asking questions in an “inappropriate venue,” and I’m *in management.* Some higher-ups just will not tolerate being questioned in front of others. In some cases, they’re happy to talk with you 1:1 or in a small group and be honest and open when not put on the spot in front of an audience. Others are just pieces of shit who don’t tolerate criticism.
The KC show is not a show that would address anti-Asian hate crimes, unfortunately. They just wouldn’t touch on something like that, based on what i know of the show from the YouTube clips.
They’ve done segments on BLM and anti-semitism. Depending on how it’s approached I could see it.
UNADULTERATED pap
What do you view as stupid about that question?
Not a stupid question.
I feel like there’s a difference between Ellen saying she had no clue and ex-employees specifically speaking up about poor treatment stating that Kelly Clarkson didn’t. It’s weird to compare Ellen’s claims to victims talking about Clarkson.
Yeah it’s funny to be honest I was not surprised at all to learn about Ellen, typically people that put on that kind of over the top cheery happy go lucky persona are usually really toxic in private. Clarkson just seems like a nice person with a toxic shit bag causing problems in the background.
Agreeeeeee. Sure, these are celebrities we don’t actually know—it’s completely possible Kelly Clarkson is a huge shitbag behind the scenes. But between Ellen’s hyper-cheerful schtick and “Kelly doesn’t know” coming from the victims (not Kelly herself), this article feels weird.
I think it was similar with Rosie O’Donnell and her talk show. Or hell even James Corden, as you said these are celebrities and we don’t know them at all, but it seems like the ones who are outwardly so hyper cheerful and peppy tend to be super toxic when not putting on a “show” for the cameras.
Rosie O’Donnell? Howard Stern says she’s a fat pig!!!
Oh no Rosie and her show were toxic!? I had no idea and I loved it so much as a kid. I went to a live taping once and she was super sweet to me. Even gave me one of her famous Koosh Balls!
Supposedly that was one of the reasons it was cancelled. But it was a long long time ago lol.
I thought Rosie decided she didn’t want to do it any more, not that it was cancelled.
The article went out of the way multiple times to say that none of the employees complained about Kelly herself, which I think speaks volumes. Unfortunately for her, people don’t read past the headline. It’s disappointing that she “wouldn’t know” but it doesn’t seem like the issues were as prevalent as with Ellen, and it’s still kind of a new show. Plus that woman has like 10 jobs, she probably just does her thing and goes home most days.
I feel like with this much insanity going on behind the scenes, the only way Clarkson didn’t know is if she didn’t want to
It’s hard to take any sort of exoneration seriously from Rolling Stone, given that their EIC went out of his way to hide that his buddy had been arrested for CSAM.https://www.npr.org/2023/03/21/1164360143/rolling-stone-fbi-raid-journalist-james-gordon-meek
The FBI sucks
Why? Because she’s fat and cheery?
“NBC is protecting its new moneymaker” … what? I’m clearly not in the target demographic, but really? This show rakes it in?
Low production costs coupled with average midday ratings equals big profit margin.
The daytime TV market is dying off/consolidating even more rapidly than network primetime. Clarkson’s show is one of the few major syndicated shows left.
When a musician takes a talk show gig, it usually means they have lost all creativity and drive, or are just not popular enough anymore for a promoter to risk booking them.In Kelly’s case, she was never star material. At best, she’s a glorified open mic participant. Her original material is unmemorable, and it will never be making any classic song lists.
These shows cost nothing to make and reliably pull in 1-2m viewers for 180 60-min eps a year. That’s a whole lot of ad slots vs. a scripted show that may run 10 eps a year, cost vastly more, and in a lot of cases pull the same number of viewers. Plus, given the demographic that watches this show (people who are home all day, i.e. the person who is probably doing the family’s grocery shopping), they’re great for CPG advertisers. You know exactly who’s watching and what to sell them.
What’s considered “toxic” by today’s standards in truly hilarious.Most of these folks are merely too soft for this world.
Nobody ever wrote an article about how I’ve suffered under one asshole middle-manager after another for 35 years.
What tv shows are not toxic so I know which ones I can watch? The list must be small.
Mister Rogers is probably the only one.
My wife worked there and they laid her off for wanting to be present for our nine-month-old daughter. It wasn’t “a good culture fit”. She was the only parent on her team.
I’m kinda starting to think these peppy-cheery-lady talk shows aren’t all that nice.
Makes me wonder what Drew Barrymore’s got in her closet.
If memory serves me, it’s a being from another world, dressed in drag.
Never thought of it before, but do we know what ET’s gender is?
They were assigned male at first contact by the kids, and he/they didn’t seem to mind. Then again, he/they couldn’t wait to get the hell off Earth, so take that as you may.
With Drew, I think any interaction immediately sucks you into her closet.
Probably just a small mountain of antidepressants.
I dunno, but she may or may not have a small malevolent troll living in her walls.
The pickled remains of Lionel Barrymore.
“and no help from human resources when those issues were reported”Everybody knows HR is there to protect the company, not you.
Yeah, that is definitely HR at ever company. They cannot be trusted for any reason, no matter what they say.
The Swamp Thing Show accused of toxicity behind the scenes—reportI would be much more interested in this article.
“You only Think you’re Alec Holland!” *throws stapler*
“ how will the show address the rise of anti-The Green hate crimes.”
It’s not easy, being green.
You know, I’m beginning to think the show business might be kind of ugly underneath.
Not really surprising. It has business right there in its name.
It’s not a workplace it’s Hollywood. Clarkson’s not off the hook either. Her name’s on the marquee and should inspect the world that lives under the Clarkson name.
Kelly knows. Kelly always knows…