Andy Lassner, a producer on the beleaguered Ellen DeGeneres Show, broke his silence after “couple of rough months” following the controversy surrounding the daytime talk show.
The 53-year-old popped up on Instagram after a month-long silence, assuring followers that he's “back” after the ousting of three producers following an investigation into allegations of racism, sexual harassment and bullying on the set.
He ended the post saying: “I love you guys; I miss you and I'll talk to you soon.”
Meanwhile, Mariah Carey is speaking out about her troubling interview with the 62-year-old Ellen DeGeneres. Carey admits to feeling “extremely uncomfortable” during their 2008 interview, in which she was forced to admit she was pregnant. Carey later had a miscarriage.
DeGeneres asked Carey to confirm or deny rumors that she was pregnant with then-husband Nick Cannon. Carey tried to change the subject, but the host offered her champagne to “toast not being pregnant”.
DeGeneres spotted Carey fake sipping champagne from her glass and shouted “You are pregnant!”
“I can't believe you did this to me, Ellen,” Carey said in the years-old clip. “This is peer pressure. What Ellen is doing, this is peer pressure.”
Carey tells Vulture: “I was extremely uncomfortable with that moment is all I can say. And I really have had a hard time grappling with the aftermath.”
Carey went on to say that she had wished that “empathy” had “been implemented” in the moment, adding: “But what am I supposed to do? It’s like, ‘What are you going to do?'”
The clip from the interview went viral last month during reports of an investigation into a toxic work environment.