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Executives from show producer Telepictures and distributor Warner Bros. Television sent a memo to employees last week saying they had engaged with the employee relations group of WBTV owner WarnerMedia and a third-party firm, which will interview the Current and former employees about their experiences on set, sources said.
The name of the external consultant was not immediately clear. Both companies underscored their commitment to providing an environment where employees can prosper, one of the people familiar with the document said.
The BuzzFeed story contained a spectrum of accused racist behavior, from micro-assaults to jokes about mistaking two black employees for the same hairstyle, as well as criticism of statements allegedly made to another staff member by executive producer Ed Glavin. Glavin and fellow executive producers Andy Lassner and Mary Connelly addressed the allegations in a joint statement to Buzzfeed.
“We are truly heartbroken and sorry to hear that even one person in our production family has had a negative experience. It is not who we are and it is not what we strive to be, and not the mission that Ellen has established for us, ”the group said.
“For the record, the day-to-day responsibility for the Ellen show rests entirely with us. We take all of this very seriously and realize that as many of the world are learning, that we need to do better, we are committed to doing better, and we will do better. ”
At the time, a Warner Bros. spokesperson acknowledged that the communication could have been better, but cited complications due to the chaos caused by COVID-19. WarnerMedia, like all other studies, has been under pressure in recent years to investigate all claims of hostility in the workplace in response to an increased focus on misconduct in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
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