"The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Ousts Three Top Producers

[Ubiquitous]

"The Ellen DeGeneres Show" has overhauled its senior production team in
the wake of accusations of racial insensitivity, sexual misconduct and
other problems in the work environment at the long-running daytime talk
show.

Three senior producers - executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman
and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman - have been ousted from the
Warner Bros.-distributed syndicated strip following damning allegations
raised in recent reports by Buzzfeed and Variety. "Ellen" veterans Mary
Connelly, Andy Lassner and Derek Westervelt will remain at the show as
executive producers alongside host DeGeneres. Connelly, Lassner and
Westervelt have been with the show since its inception in 2003.

A Warner Bros. spokeswoman confirmed that Glavin, Leman and Norman have
"parted ways" with the show.

The news was delivered to "Ellen" staffers Monday afternoon during a
staff meeting in which DeGeneres spoke via a videoconference call.
DeGeneres was emotional to the point of tears, and apologetic as she
addressed more than 200 staffers. According to multiple sources,
DeGeneres told the staff she was "not perfect" and realized that in the
effort for the show to run as a "well-oiled machine," sometimes leaders
were not as sensitive to "human beings" as they should have been. She
added that reading disturbing allegations about the atmosphere on the
show was "heartbreaking."

DeGeneres even went so far as to note that the show has at times
alienated staffers and even guests by shifting shooting timetables on
short notice. She vowed to stick to agreed-upon timetables to make the
production process smoother for all.

At the same time, during the meeting Connelly and Lassner addressed the
results of the studio's internal investigation that was sparked by the
flurry of reports. After interviewing more than 100 people connected to
the show, the probe found that there was no evidence of "systemic"
racism on the show although there was an acknowledgment that more needed
to be done in terms of diversity and inclusion. DeGeneres and others
vowed that everyone on staff - including DeGeneres - will participate in
diversity and inclusion workshops. The host also announced that the
show's resident DJ, Stephen "tWitch" Boss, was promoted to co-executive
producer.

Warner Bros. declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation.
Sources said DeGeneres and other other producers did not take questions
from staffers, who are still working remotely. DeGeneres is said to have
vowed to meet in small groups with staffers once the health threat of
the pandemic has passed. The show has faced criticism for a lack of
diversity on its staff, something the studio has vowed to address.

The departures had been expected ever since Glavin, Leman and Norman
were cited in a July 30 story published by BuzzFeed about allegations of
misconduct, harassment and questionable behavior on the set of the show.
The trio were suspended in the wake of the BuzzFeed story and have since
been terminated, multiple sources said.

Sources close to the situation said Leman and Glavin are also out as EPs
on other DeGeneres-produced shows, including NBC's "Ellen's Game of
Games." Staffers were also told that the show has pushed back its 18th
season debut by a few days, to Sept. 14.

In response to the complaints that found their way into media reports,
Warner Bros. has established a dedicated HR representative for the show
and a hotline for complaints. DeGeneres told staffers she had hoped to
address them sooner but was told not to while the investigation was in
process. C

DeGeneres addressed the persistent rumor that staffers and guests were
told not to address her or even look her in the eye if they encountered
the host on the set or in the offices on the Warner Bros. lot. She
called that "crazy" and "not true" although she also described herself
as an "introvert." She apologized to anyone who felt "disregarded,"
according to multiple sources.

DeGeneres repeatedly emphasized that she was "proud" of the show's
success and its ability to spinoff additional programs such as "Ellen's
Game of Games." She also expressed gratitude to staffers, many of whom
have been with her for the entire run. She vowed the show would "come
back strong" next month.

"This will be the best season we've ever had," DeGeneres vowed.

--
"It took a worldwide pandemic. It took a 35% plunge in the stock
market. It took quarantining. It took many small businesses closing. It
took canceling practically everything, to bring the USA economy back to
the Obama high mark."

[J.B. Nicholson]

Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:
> Three senior producers - executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin
> Leman and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman - have been ousted
> from the Warner Bros.-distributed syndicated strip following damning
> allegations raised in recent reports by Buzzfeed and Variety.

But nobody higher up the chain of command on the show who (according
to reports) allowed the known-bad behavior to persist for so long will
leave under a cloud of suspicion? This "fish doesn't rot from the
head" anymore? (see reference below)

According to https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8581717/Ellen-DeGeneres-telling-executives-shes-ready-call-quits.html
"staffers slam her [Ellen DeGeneres'] apology
and claim she's [DeGeneres is] the problem". Going back and forth
between the two articles shows the difference between what was claimed
and what ended up happening. It's funny how the staffers' claims are
being dismissed and how many en vogue "woke" lines are being violated
by the crowd that we're all supposed to obey.

For example, that same Daily Mail article seems to quote someone who
allegedly said:

> '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.'

Yet now we're told that (going back to the article Ubiquitous quoted):

> "Ellen" veterans Mary Connelly, Andy Lassner and Derek Westervelt
> will remain at the show as executive producers alongside host
> DeGeneres. Connelly, Lassner and Westervelt have been with the show
> since its inception in 2003.

But the Daily Mail claimed that Connelly & Lassner were two of the
executive producers who were said to be "fostering a hostile work
environment":

> Executive Producers of the Ellen DeGeneres Show Mary Connelly
> (left), Andy Lassner (center), and Ed Glavin have been accused of
> fostering a hostile work environment.

The Daily Mail article seems to point up so much managerial theater
clumsily covering up for what was described as a "toxic culture" that
"comes from the top @TheEllenShow":

> It comes as staff at the Ellen DeGeneres Show are hitting back at her
> for shifting the blame to her executive producers in an apology memo
> sent this week.
>
> '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,' one staffer, who spoke to DailyMail.com on condition of
> anonymity, said. 'If anyone had come to her or those three vile
> [executive producers] to complain, they would've been fired.'
>
> 'Inside Telepictures we've had enough of her. She is a phony who does
> not practice what she preaches,' our Telepictures source said.
>
> '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.'
>
> Our Telepictures insider claims 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,' they 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.'
>
> The claims of Ellen's toxic work environment were revealed earlier
> this month by one current and 10 former employees of the daytime talk
> show who accused the three executive producers, Ed Glavin, Mary
> Connelly and Andy Lassner, of 'bullying.'

and:

> Even Everybody Loves Raymond actor Brad Garrett chimed in Thursday
> in a tweet, saying, 'Sorry but it comes from the top
> ?@TheEllenShow. Know more than one who were treated horribly by her.?
> Common knowledge.'

Going back to Ubiquitous' quoted article:

> Warner Bros. declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation.
> Sources said DeGeneres and other other producers did not take questions
> from staffers, who are still working remotely. DeGeneres is said to have
> vowed to meet in small groups with staffers once the health threat of
> the pandemic has passed.

Meeting in small groups to get them to sign even more tightly binding
non-disclosure forms?

> In response to the complaints that found their way into media
> reports, Warner Bros. has established a dedicated HR representative
> for the show and a hotline for complaints.

The timeline on the complaints about DeGeneres' management spans years
-- Cathy Messier's tweet refers to Messier's "friend [who] wrote for
the Ellen show for two years and told me Ellen didn't greet her
once. In fact, upon employment, staff were told they weren't allowed
to talk to her.". Yet DeGeneres insisted this behavior should be
dismissed out of hand because the claim is "crazy". That's a believe
all women violation, isn't it?

So, yes, please report to the unaccountable Warner Bros. bosses above
you (who, as far as we know, tolerated bad Ellen show management for
years) so that Warner & Ellen management can identify you by your
voice and get some names to put with these "persistent rumors". This
will help management more effectively pressure you out of your job if
you continue to experience problems with Warner's cash cow who
apparently shall not be cancelled (just as continuing Ellen executive
producer Andy Lassner predicted when he tweeted -- "Nobody is going
off the air.", a tweet shown in the Daily Mail article as well).

Or, as the Daily Mail article put it:

> A source initially told Buzzfeed that the executive producers feel
> that 'everybody who works at The Ellen Show is lucky to work there:
> 'So if you have a problem, you should leave because we'll hire
> someone else because everybody wants to work here.''

Private tyranny 'justice', no due process, and an industry facing
decades of mistreating workers (not just the Ellen show) which is also
eager to tell us how to live.

Related:

"Ellen DeGeneres talk show guest [2018 guest Dana Dimatteo] claims
host's kind on-screen demeanor is 'all an act' that she 'snaps out of'
when the cameras stop rolling - and says guests are warned not to be
'funnier or smarter' than her"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8633229/Ellen-DeGeneres-talk-guest-claims-hosts-kind-screen-demeanor-act.html

Dimatteo is another voice echoing the antisocial behavior of a talk
show host which DeGeneres allegedly dismissed as "crazy" in her most
recent staff teleconference.

> She [Dimatteo] claimed the 62-year-old would 'break out of her
> “kind” character and sit moodily in silence on her couch, not
> acknowledging anyone'
>
> [...]
>
> Before appearing on screen with Ellen, Dimatteo also says she and
> other guests were warned by producers that they were ‘not allowed to
> be funnier or smarter’ than the host, and to remember ‘she is the star
> and the comedian, not us.’
>
> ‘We were told to act in a very specific way and to only speak if she
> asked us a question,’ she added. ‘They made us scream and jump around
> backstage as a test, it was pretty humiliating.’
>
> Once the ‘Make It Rain’ segment was over, Dimatteo claims she was left
> soaking wet and told to go back stage.
>
> ‘Then they just left us there,’ she said. ‘We waited pretty much the
> whole show in our soaking wet clothes for someone to bring us dry
> things to change into. It was really uncomfortable and cold.’