When Ellen DeGeneres returned the air Monday, she addressed the investigation into the “toxic work environment” on her eponymous show, which resulted in the firing of three executive producers. But the former employees who first raised the alarm at the show, were not happy about her approach.
The 62-year-old apologized and promised that she’s not a phony, but she also made sarcastic jokes about how “terrific” her summer had been, and how she’s “impatient” about working on her patience.
“Not only did Ellen turn my trauma, turn our traumas, into a joke, she somehow managed to make this about her,” one former employee told BuzzFeed News.
“When she said, ‘Oh, my summer was great’ and that was supposed to be funny, I thought, ‘It’s funny that you had a rough summer because everyone was calling out all of the allegations of your toxic work environment and now you’re the one suffering?'” another former employee said.
“When you’re talking about people who have accused her leadership of the seriousness of sexual misconduct, I don’t think it’s appropriate to have jokes in the monologue,” a former employee told the outlet.
Others noted that her claims that her “be kind” persona was forced on her by others, are bogus.
“I don’t feel sorry that she’s in a s–tload of trouble because she branded herself the ‘be kind’ person,” a former employee said. “She’s acting like it was something she said in passing that just stuck with her. It’s not something that stuck with her, it’s not an accident. She went forward with this idea and this marketing strategy that was not true behind the scenes.”