Ellen has been cancelled – literally. Channel 9 has just announced that it’s pulling The Ellen DeGeneres Show off the air in the wake of toxic allegations made by the show’s production crew.
Following an initial investigation by BuzzFeed News last month, heaps of Ellen crew members have made claims of a “toxic work environment” due to alleged racist comments, microaggressions and long hours, among other things.
Even prior to that, other claims were also starting to trickle out, including from a former bodyguard who said the way DeGeneres treated him was “kind of demeaning”.
Guests including YouTuber NikkieTutorials also said DeGeneres was “distant and cold” with the YouTuber concluding: “don’t meet your idols”.
Even here in Australia, a former Today Show producer said DeGeneres’ guest segment on the Aussie breakfast TV show had everyone walking “on eggshells”.
DeGeneres, for her part, apologised in an email to staff, and the show has now started offering employees a meagre five days of annual leave plus paid medical leave.
The midday time slot will now be filled by Desperate Housewives. While the channel was just broadcasting repeats at the moment, there’s no word yet if the new season due in September will air in Australia.
Earlier this month, Nine programming director Hamish Turner told TV Tonight that the network was still in the process of renewing their rights to the show, which is all dependent on how Warner Bros deals with the allegations.
“We’ll wait to hear from Warner Brothers as to the results of their internal inquiry, because at the moment, they haven’t even come forward with what the show is, or when it might go back into production,” he said.
“There’s a lot to go under the bridge before we even get to that stage. We haven’t got a clear picture yet.”
If you’re desperate for your fix of Ellen repeats, you’ll still be able to catch the show on 9Gem and FOX Arena.
