Ellen DeGeneres’ On-Air Apology Did Not Go Over Well With Current and Former Employees

4 Min Read
Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres opened Season 18 of The Ellen DeGeneres Show yesterday (September 21, 2020) with a monologue in which she addressed the toxic workplace accusations posed against the show by current and former employees over the summer.

Her words came off as very tone-deaf by some of the showโ€™s current and former employees according to BuzzFeed News.

โ€œNot only did Ellen turn my trauma, turn our traumas, into a joke, she somehow managed to make this about her,โ€ one former employee stated. โ€œWhen she said, โ€˜Oh, my summer was greatโ€™ and that was supposed to be funny I thought, โ€˜Itโ€™s funny that you had a rough summer because everyone was calling out all of the allegations of your toxic work environment and now youโ€™re the one suffering?โ€™โ€

Ellen DeGeneres Red Carpet - 26th Annual GLAAD Media Awards
Photo by Getty Images

As for the timing of her apology, one current employee assumed that she waited to make her public apology for ratings.

โ€œItโ€™s always tactical,โ€ the employee said. โ€œThe average person will listen to it and make their own choices, but what people donโ€™t always take into account is that information is power, and sheโ€™s sharing it now because itโ€™s for premiere week and itโ€™s to get viewers back, and that just feels the opposite of what this message is about.โ€

As for the jokes in the monologue, a former employee thought that they were totally inappropriate since employees had been subject to sexual misconduct.

READ MORE: Check Out More Ellen DeGeneres News

โ€œWhen youโ€™re talking about people who have accused her leadership of the seriousness of sexual misconduct, I donโ€™t think itโ€™s appropriate to have jokes in the monologue.โ€

Ellen DeGeneres The World Premiere Of Disney-Pixar's "Finding Dory"
Ellen DeGeneres attends The World Premiere of Disney-Pixarย’s FINDING DORY on Wednesday, June 8, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Getty Images)

โ€œItโ€™s kind of amazing that this is being discussed on her show. To actually go from an environment where nothing is said and everyone keeps their head down to now when itโ€™s the topic of her first show back is pretty amazing,โ€ one employee revealed about Ellen actually confronting the issue. โ€œWhether or not I believe in this message that she is saying is another issue.โ€

A former employee was upset about the apology, saying, โ€œThe right thing would be to follow up with these people who are humans who were affected by this/ They have a responsibility to kind of close this chapter of our lives and move on. It was like, โ€˜Tell us all of the most fucked-up things that happened to you for the investigation, and now that weโ€™ve written it all down, see you later.โ€™ It just feels like thereโ€™s no ending to this for people who came forward and said things that happened to them and reopened these wounds and rehashed these memories.โ€

You can watch Ellenโ€™s apology here.