Ellen DeGeneres is sorry.
On Monday, the embattled talk show host addressed the toxic workplace allegations that plagued The Ellen DeGeneres Show throughout the summer. In the season 18 premiere of her eponymous, long-running daytime program, DeGeneres said she takes “responsibility for what happens at my show” and claimed its team had “made the necessary changes and today we are starting a new chapter.”
“I learned that things happened here that never should have happened,” she said in a monologue. “I take that very seriously and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected. I know that I’m in a position of privilege and power and I realized that with that comes responsibility.”
“This is The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” the host added. “I am Ellen DeGeneres. My name is there, my name is there, my name is on underwear.”
Monday’s show was DeGeneres’ first back in the Warner Bros. studio since a series of BuzzFeed exposés alleged a culture of sexual harassment, sexist remarks, and racial microgressions behind the scenes of the beloved, Emmy-winning talk show. The myriad reports, which were collected after speaking with 75 current and former crew members, accused producers Ed Glavin of inappropriate physical contact with subordinates and Kevin Leman of propositioning employees with sex.
Glavin and Leman denied the allegations but were dismissed from the show earlier this year, which was followed by an internal investigation and a series of apologies from DeGeneres to staff.
“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,” she wrote in a July 30 internal memo. “Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry. Anyone who knows me knows it’s the opposite of what I believe and what I hoped for our show.”
DeGeneres also spoke to reports that her public persona, which is largely defined by her oft-deployed “be kind” mantra, is drastically different from who she is when the cameras aren’t rolling. A former household staffer said DeGeneres treated domestic workers “like you were nothing,” while a viral Twitter thread from March described her as “notoriously one of the meanest people alive.”
DeGeneres did not deny the claims but acknowledged that she is a “work in progress.”
“Sometimes I get sad, I get mad, I get anxious, I get frustrated, I get impatient,” the 62-year-old said. “And I am working on all of that. … I’m especially working on the impatience thing because, and it’s not going well, because it’s not happening fast enough I will tell you that.”
The comedian added that her famous catchphrase stemmed from the 2009 death of Tyler Clementi, a bullied gay student at Rutgers University who took his own life after he was outed by his roommate. She said that, at the time, she felt the “world needed more kindness” and telling people to “be kind” to one another “was a reminder that we all needed that, and I think we need it more than ever right now.”
But DeGeneres now realizes that boxing herself into promoting positivity had its downsides because she, too, is human and prone to her share of mistakes.
“Being known as the ‘be kind’ lady is a tricky position to be in,” she said. “So let me give you some advice out there if anybody’s thinking of changing their title or giving yourself a nickname, do not go with the ‘be kind’ lady. Don’t do it.”
The host added, though, that the person audiences have watched on television since the show’s 2003 premiere isn’t all one great, big façade. “I’ve played a straight woman in movies so I’m a pretty good actress, but I don’t think that I’m that good that I could come out here every day for 17 years and fool you,” she said.
The monologue, which was also uploaded to YouTube was delivered primarily to a virtual audience in light of COVID-19. The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which began filming at the host’s home after the pandemic struck, was also hit with allegations earlier this year that it had ghosted its crew, failed to communicate with them about pay, and hired non-union workers to film remotely.
DeGeneres did not allude to those claims in her apology.
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