Ellen DeGeneres is under fire—but not for being a lesbian. She’s under fire an alleged toxic work culture.
DeGeneres started her career as a stand-up comedian and won the praises of the late legend Johnny Carson. She worked hard and made people laugh—and they did. She rose to fame in 1994 when her sitcom Ellen premiered on television.
When she came out as gay in 1997, she was largely shunned. After 109 episodes, the show went off the air in 1998 and we didn’t hear much from DeGeneres until 2001. That’s when CBS launched The Ellen Show, but it was soon cancelled for low ratings.
DeGeneres reemerged with her own talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2003, which has been a smash hit through its 17 years. But she finds herself again in crisis with allegations of a toxic workplace environment.
As Forbes reports, high-profile celebrities are going public with their positive and negative experiences with DeGeneres after current and former employees claim mistreatment. DeGeneres has apologized to staff and Warner Media has launched an investigation.
“My name is on the show and everything we do and I take responsibility for that,” DeGeneres said in the internal memo obtained by Variety. “As we’ve grown exponentially, I’ve not been able to stay on top of everything and relied on others to do their jobs as they knew I’d want them done. Clearly some didn’t. That will now change and I’m committed to ensuring this does not happen again.”
Forbes reports:
Actor Brad Garrett retweeted a Variety article with DeGeneres’ reported apology letter to staff, saying “it comes from the top,” claiming that he knows more than one person who was “treated horribly by her” and that her behavior is “common knowledge.” Actress Lea Thompson replied to a tweet about Garrett’s assertion that the mistreatment is “common knowledge,” tweeting, “True story.”
Former “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” DJ Tony Okungbowa said in an Instagram post, “While I am grateful for the opportunity it afforded me, I did experience and feel the toxicity of the environment and I stand with my former colleagues in their quest to create a healthier and more inclusive workplace as the show moves forward.”
Actress Rachel Bloom didn’t mention DeGeneres in a Twitter thread, but said, “I have both worked behind the scenes of tv shows and been the celebrity guest on them and the two experiences are very different,” adding, “Having a good time being a guest does not necessarily have anything to do with the experiences of the employees.”
Many celebrities, including Katy Perry, Diane Keaton and Jay Leno are supporting DeGeneres. Nevertheless, she is going through a trial—and it’s not the first one. Sources says she feels betrayed and wants out of her show.
Noteworthy is the reality that DeGeneres has religious roots in Christian Science. Christian Science is a false religion. Some call it a cult.
“I was raised Christian Science,” said DeGeneres, explaining “It is a religion that does not believe in doctors or medicine. So my entire childhood I never had any vaccination, never had any medicine. They believed we are spiritual beings having a material experience in the material world. And their mantra was know the truth. And their truth was there is no pain unless you give it pain with your mind.”
DeGeneres hasn’t met the real Jesus. We don’t know if the accusations against her are true, but we know she is in a true trial. We should take this opportunity to pray for Ellen. God loves her and died for her. Imagine the stir in Hollywood if she turned to Christ as Lord.
- Pray that the true Jesus encounters her heart with His love
- Pray God will heal her from any childhood trauma she may have experienced
- Pray God will send laborers in Ellen’s path to speak words of life to her
- Pray God would surround Ellen with a strong Christian community
- Pray for her salvation
