Ellen DeGeneres is reportedly ready to call her show quits in the face of mounting pressure and a storm of negative press surrounding claims of toxic workplace.
The host, 62, has told executives at TelePictures and Warner Bros that she has had enough and wants to walk away, according to the Daily Mail.
“She feels she can’t go on and the only way to recover her personal brand from this is to shut down the show,” a source told the publication.
“The truth is she knew what was going on, it’s her show. The buck stops with her. She can blame every executive under the sun – but Ellen is ultimately the one to blame.”
Staff at her show have also hit back at the apology letter she sent out this week, branding her a “phony” and claiming anyone who complained to her about the ongoing issues “would’ve been fired”.
“Don’t think for a minute anything she has said in that apology means anything. She created and then enabled this toxic culture to go on for so long,” one staffer said.
“If anyone had come to her or those three (executive producers) to complain, they would’ve been fired.”
“Inside Telepictures we’ve had enough of her. She is a phony who does not practice what she preaches,” another source told Daily Mail.
“The behaviour of her show executives has been appalling, but (Ellen) is no better. In fact, she is the worst. It’s outrageous that she is trying to pretend that this is all a shock to her. The fish rots from the head, and Ellen is the head.”
The insider went on to claim that DeGeneres “hates coming to work”, “struggles to be nice to people” and has “utter contempt for her audience”.
“She has been phoning it in for so long, and only staying for the money and celebrity it affords her,” the source said.
“We’ve dealt with her BS for so many years, she’s not innocent at all, she’s not nice and the show is not filled with happiness.”
While speculation swirls about the future of DeGeneres, actor Brad Garrett – who appeared six times between 2004 and 2007 on The Ellen Show – has joined the critics’ chorus directed at the host.
The Everybody Loves Raymond star retweeted an article about “emotional apologies to staff” by DeGeneres – in which she tried to lay the blame at the feet of those working under her – tagging the daytime TV host and scrapping her statements.
“Sorry but it comes from the top @TheEllenShow. Know more than one who were (sic) treated horribly by her. Common knowledge,” Garrett wrote in a post.
Sorry but it comes from the top @TheEllenShow Know more than one who were treated horribly by her. Common knowledge. DeGeneres Sends Emotional Apology to Staff – Variety https://t.co/D0uxOgyyre
— Brad Garrett (@RealBradGarrett) July 31, 2020
To Ellen, who went through awkward television interviews and a viral Twitter thread calling her one of the “meanest people alive” this year, the tell-all is just the latest in a long line of PR disasters.