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Ellen: “The truth is that I am the person you see on your TV. I am also many other things.”
Ellen DeGeneres has opened her new talk show series with an apology and an admission that “things happened here that should never have happened.”
On Monday, The Ellen DeGeneres Show returned to America’s screens for the first time since allegations emerged about a toxic work environment on set.
“I take this very seriously and want to say I am very sorry to the people it affected,” said the host.
He said an investigation had led to “the necessary changes.”
Three top show producers were recently fired amid allegations of misconduct.
DeGeneres opened in a typically deadpan comic tone, saying to the camera, “If you’re watching because you love me, thank you. If you’re watching because you don’t love me, welcome.”
Through clenched teeth, she said she’d had a “great summer – super great.”
But she soon got serious about addressing the allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that surfaced earlier this year.
“I learned that things happened that should never have happened,” he said.
“If I’ve ever let someone down, if I’ve ever hurt their feelings, I’m sorry.”
The lady ‘be nice’
He added that as a person in a position of power and privilege, the show and what happened within it was his responsibility.
“We have made the necessary changes and today we are starting a new chapter,” he told viewers.
That included announcing that studio DJ Twitch had been promoted to co-executive producer.
She joked that being known as the “nice lady”, the show’s closing date, was “a complicated position.”
“If you want to give yourself a new nickname or title, don’t go to the ‘be nice’ lady. Don’t.”
But he said that contrary to what is reported in “the press and social networks … the truth is that I am the person you see on your TV.” She continued, “I am many other things too. Sometimes I am sad, I get angry, I get anxious, I feel frustrated, I get impatient and I am working on all of that. I am a work in progress.”
He said he wanted “each and every one” of the 270 employees who worked on his program “to be happy and proud to work here.”
What happened to Ellen?
DeGeneres already apologized in an email to staff in July, saying she was “committed to ensuring this doesn’t happen again,” and made a further apology in a video meeting with her team in August.
A Warner Brothers spokesperson confirmed that the show “parted ways” with executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman, and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman, in August.
In a story published earlier this year, several former employees told Buzzfeed News they had experienced racism while working on the show, and some said they had been fired for spending days grieving.
The show has won more than 60 Emmy Awards since it first aired in 2003.
