Jimmy Kimmel fails to ask Ellen a single tough question in her first interview since allegations of her ‘toxic behavior’ emerged and instead asks about her charity work and getting stoned
- Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday didn’t ask Ellen DeGeneres about ‘toxic’ workplace behavior during her first interview since the claims surfaced last year
- Instead, they joked and played games, including one in which they tried to remember strange things they had done on their talk shows over the years
- Kimmel also asked DeGeneres about her charity work, and she revealed how she was ‘stoned’ when she rushed her wife, Portia de Rossi to the hospital
- De Rossi had to have an emergency appendectomy in March, DeGeneres said
Jimmy Kimmel failed to ask Ellen DeGeneres a single question about the allegations of her ‘toxic behavior’ in the workplace during her first interview since the claims surfaced last year.
Instead, the pair’s conversation on Tuesday centered around numerous jokes and games, including one in which they tried to remember strange things they had done on their talk shows over the years.
The fact that the allegations against DeGeneres didn’t come up at all during the interview was first reported by The Daily Beast, which noted that the host’s appearance shows how much celebrities ‘tend to give their celebrity friends cover when low-level staffers suffer abuse’.
Kimmel also asked DeGeneres about her charity work and she revealed how she was ‘stoned’ when she rushed her wife, Portia de Rossi to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy in March.
‘It’s probably not safe, I shouldn’t be saying any of that,’ she told Kimmel of the emergency situation.
Jimmy Kimmel failed to ask Ellen DeGeneres a single question about the allegations of her ‘toxic behavior’ in the workplace during her first interview since the claims surfaced last year
Instead, the pair’s conversation on Tuesday centered around numerous jokes and games, including one in which they tried to remember strange things they had done on their talk shows over the years
Last year, dozens of staff on The Ellen DeGeneres Show claimed that racism, bullying and sexual harassment was rife at the Hollywood studio.
The claims cost DeGeneres 1.1 million viewers who stopped watching the show over the last year, according to Nielsen data released in March. Her viewership was up to 2.6 million at one point but is now down to 1.5 million viewers.
Former workers said the show has a high turnover of staff because of the pressure which DeGeneres applies but that fear of her ‘power’ had prevented complainants from coming forward earlier.
The show’s parent company WarnerMedia in July 2020 launched an investigation after the employees went public with their grievances.
At the time, DeGeneres sent her staff a memo in which she wrote she was ‘taking steps… to correct’ issues with her employees after several complaints and an internal investigation into the supposed toxic working environment was launched.
‘On day one of our show, I told everyone in our first meeting that The Ellen DeGeneres Show would be a place of happiness – no one would ever raise their voice, and everyone would be treated with respect. Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry,’ DeGeneres said in the memo.
In September, DeGeneres used her opening monologue of the new season of her daytime talk show to address allegations of a toxic work environment, apologizing for things ‘that never should have happened’.
‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ started its 18th season in Los Angeles in September with the host on stage for the first time in months after taping from DeGeneres’s home during quarantine.
‘We have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks about the show, our workplace, and what we want for the future,’ she said. ‘We have made the necessary changes and today we are starting a new chapter.’
Three of the show’s producers exited over the summer amid allegations of a dysfunctional workplace that harbored misbehavior, including sexual misconduct and racially insensitive remarks.
The host also addressed the allegations that the off-camera DeGeneres is very different than her sunny on-air persona.
‘The truth is I am that person that you see on TV,’ she said. ‘I am also a lot of other things,’ she said. ‘I get sad. I get mad. I get anxious. I get frustrated. I get impatient. And I am working on all of that.’
Since then DeGeneres has kept a low profile with Tuesday night’s interview being her first since the claims made headlines.
The interview with Kimmel was likely an attempt to throw a positive spotlight onto DeGeneres ahead of the premiere of her new show, Ellen’s Next Great Designer, on HBO Max.
The show begins streaming on Thursday.
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