Warner Bros. is conducting an internal investigation of The Ellen DeGeneres Show following multiple complaints of a toxic work environment.
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter report a memo was emailed to employees of The Ellen DeGeneres Show last week, which stated Warner Bros. will be interviewing current and former staffers about their experience on the set of the syndicated talk show, per their sources who have knowledge of the email’s contents. Said interviews will be conducted by WarnerMedia’s employee relations group and an unspecified “third party firm,” according to Variety.
Two weeks ago, BuzzFeed News published accounts from one current and 10 former staffers who anonymously claimed they were subjected to a “toxic work environment.” Numerous individuals alleged they were fired after taking medical leave or bereavement days and were subjected to favoritism by executive producers, with one other employee claiming they faced microaggressions
Ellen DeGeneres was never accused of any of the alleged misconduct. And though none of the staffers named the talk-show host, one person stated, “I think the executive producers surround her and tell her, ‘Things are going great, everybody’s happy,’ and she just believes that, but it’s her responsibility to go beyond that.”