Re: "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Ousts Three Top Producers

[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.’