After sullying her name and seeing her empire crumble to the ground, Ellen DeGeneres finally came forth to take action and clear the mess that had her ensnared within controversy.
After ousting three top producers of the show over sexual harassment and toxic workplace complaints, the talk show host got candid with her staff members in a video conference call, details of which have now been spilled by a source.
An insider told Us Weekly that the comedian boosted the morale of her employees while opening up about her own behavior as well and what the cause was behind it.
“Producers, Ellen and crew were on a video call this afternoon. Ellen addressed them. It really boosted morale. She opened up and was being real. [She] admitted to being multilayered and said she has good days and bad days. She said people on the call would know that she has not asked people not to look her in the eyes on set,” said an insider while talking to the outlet.
She also reportedly told her workers that she is an “introvert” and as “her life kept getting bigger and bigger and she went from no one wanting to back her to her show blowing up.”
The grapevine added that DeGeneres does not wish for her employees “to be afraid to address her and say hi,” but in fact “she encouraged it.”
“She said she’s not on set as much as everyone else, and she didn’t know what was going on. Ellen said she was ashamed and embarrassed to hear about it and assured them it would not continue,” said the source to the portal.
“Everyone on the call was glad to hear from her. She said if you heard anything about the show not coming back that’s not true,” they added.
Another source spoke to People magazine about what went down during the meeting: "They’re putting in real structures and resources for people so this never happens again and that is extremely important to Ellen. She was emotional seeing everybody. They’re family.”
“I’m hearing that some people felt that I wasn’t kind or too short with them, or too impatient. I apologize to anybody if I’ve hurt your feelings in any way,” added the grapevine.
It was also announced by the host during the meeting that three of the top executive producers on the show—Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman and co-EP Jonathan Norman—will be getting laid off after being accused of sexual harassment and creating a toxic workplace
Apart from ousting the three EPs from the Warner Bros.-distributed syndicated strip, other changes were also made to the show as the comedian issued an apology to her staff, the second one in recent weeks, according to Hollywood Reporter.
DeGeneres also informed her employees that Stephan Laurel Boss, the DJ on her show known popularly as tWitch would be getting promoted to executive producer.