Producers Are Reportedly In A ‘Difficult Position’ As They Mull Tossing Ellen DeGeneres Off Show
Ellen DeGeneres continues to face intense scrutiny over the treatment of her staff, and the situation is reportedly putting Warner Brothers in a “difficult position” as the company considers removing her from her hit daytime TV show.
Page Six reported that Warners launched an investigation into Ellen’s treatment of those who work with and for her. While the general consensus lately seems to be that most people are aware of alleged mistreatment, the media giant is being forced to take stock of the situation and they won’t be able to sweep it under the rug, a source claimed.
“Everybody knows Ellen is mean and incredibly difficult. Now that Warners has launched an investigation, there are a lot of employees coming forward with accounts they can’t ignore,” the insider reported.
It appears that the company is getting serious about the idea of removing the titular host as reports of misconduct continue to spread and celebrities bring more and more attention to the revelations.
Lea Thompson said that Ellen’s behavior is common knowledge in Hollywood after Brad Garrett, star of Everybody Loves Raymond, said that he personally knows multiple people who have been poorly treated by the longtime host.
But if producers do want to ditch Ellen, they face some legal and financial woes.
“This puts Warners in a difficult position contractually with Ellen — they put hundreds of millions of dollars into their deal with her. If they decide they want her out — which looks increasingly likely — this will be a big legal problem. Plus, she’d never leave without her reputation intact.”
On top of that, it may be hard to find someone else to take over the series.
“The other big problem is there is no replacement for Ellen,” the source said.
While the media giant hasn’t said one way or another how it is looking to move forward yet, it did say that preliminary findings did in fact show “some deficiencies related to the show’s day-to-day management.”
Ellen has claimed that she has recently learned about the “toxic” culture at her show and blamed the people who she worked with for creating a negative environment by “misrepresenting” her to employees. She also apologized for the problem.
Reportedly, things have gotten so bad that Ellen has considered walking away from the series, as The Inquisitr previously reported. Apparently, she is so upset and frustrated that she has been in talks with Warner Bros. and Telepictures to figure out how to move forward.
