{"id":180,"date":"2021-03-31T04:51:29","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T08:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/?p=180"},"modified":"2021-03-31T10:27:35","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T14:27:35","slug":"ellen-degeneres-loses-over-1-million-viewers-following-an-apology-over-toxic-workplace-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/2021\/03\/31\/ellen-degeneres-loses-over-1-million-viewers-following-an-apology-over-toxic-workplace-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellen DeGeneres loses over 1 million viewers following an apology over toxic workplace allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Ellen DeGeneres returns to TV with an apology and an admission that &#8220;things happened here that never should have happened&#8221;.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Article by Rinna Diamantakos.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Viewership of \u201cThe Ellen DeGeneres Show,\u201d drops by more than 1 million after the host publically apologizes for allegations of workplace toxicity and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Multi-award-winning talk show host Ellen DeGeneres opened the 18<sup>th<\/sup> season of her show by addressing allegations of abuse from current and former employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI learned that things happen here that never should have happened,\u201d DeGeneres said. \u201cI take that very seriously. And I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>\u201cI learned that things happen here that never should have happened.\u201d<\/p><cite>ELLEN DEGENERES<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the season opener marked the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/03\/22\/business\/media\/ellen-degeneres-ratings-decline.html?\">highest rating for the show\u2019s opening<\/a> in four years, viewership following DeGeneres\u2019s apology has plummeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/03\/22\/business\/media\/ellen-degeneres-ratings-decline.html?\">According to the research firm Nielsen<\/a>, \u201cEllen,\u201d has lost more than 1 million viewers, with the show averaging roughly 1.5 million viewers in the last six months, compared to the 2.6 million viewers it pulled at the same time last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This drop represents a 43% decline in viewership, with a 38% drop amongst the show&#8217;s core demographic, adult women under 54, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/03\/22\/business\/media\/ellen-degeneres-ratings-decline.html?\">according to Nielsen<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The decline in viewership comes in response to allegations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/krystieyandoli\/ellen-employees-allege-toxic-workplace-culture\">reported by Buzzfeed<\/a> in July of workplace toxicity and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.knightlab.com\/libs\/timeline3\/latest\/embed\/index.html?source=1wnypYY-ZJlpMp40xdVBQqhJ56u0I6PYxAKtUMi-0GD0&amp;font=Default&amp;lang=en&amp;initial_zoom=2&amp;height=650\" width=\"100%\" height=\"650\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Timeline by Simone Gavros.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One current employee and 10 former employees told Buzzfeed that the shows executive producers and senior managers were responsible for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/krystieyandoli\/ellen-employees-allege-toxic-workplace-culture\">\u201cday-to-day toxicity,\u201d<\/a> that staff faced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Racial microagressions, sexual harassment, mistreatment of new staff, disregard for the mental health of employees, as well as miscommunication at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, were amongst the claims made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Right now we all need a little kindness. You know, like Ellen Degeneres always talks about! \ud83d\ude0a\u2764\ufe0f <br><br>She\u2019s also notoriously one of the meanest people alive<br><br>Respond to this with the most insane stories you\u2019ve heard about Ellen being mean &amp; I\u2019ll match every one w\/ $2 to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LAFoodBank?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LAFoodBank<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Kevin T. Porter (@KevinTPorter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KevinTPorter\/status\/1241049881688412160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 20, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption><em>Comedian Kevin T. Porter got the ball rolling with a&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KevinTPorter\/status\/1241049881688412160\" target=\"_blank\">viral Twitter thread<\/a>&nbsp;encouraging people to share their experiences with DeGeneres or stories about her, whom he called &#8220;notoriously one of the meanest people alive.&#8221;<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Buzzfeed report, employees who attempted to speak out about workplace toxicity were met with internal backlash and ran the risk of being fired or not having their contract renewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With DeGeneres as the public face of the brand, one employee told Buzzfeed that they felt she should also take responsibility for the environment on her show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ellen DeGeneres Apologizes To Staff\" width=\"740\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EPjs8KRBs-M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption><em>After Ellen DeGeneres apologized to staff following allegations of mistreatment and harassment, Graeme O&#8217;Neil and Keshia Chante discuss during &#8220;ET Canada Live&#8221;. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2020\/tv\/news\/ellen-degeneres-show-season-18-premiere-date-1234762583\/\">In August<\/a>, DeGeneres addressed more than 200 members of her staff virtually to apologize for the allegations and acknowledge her responsibility in promoting a healthy workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2020\/tv\/news\/ellen-degeneres-producers-ed-glavin-jonathan-norman-glavin-kevin-leman-jonathan-norman-1234737854\/\">Following an investigation into the allegations<\/a>, Warner Bros. fired three of the show&#8217;s top executives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, ratings show that the studios actions and DeGeneres\u2019 apology have not been enough to save the show\u2019s audience, which has been tuning out en masse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ellen DeGeneres returns to TV with an apology and an admission that &#8220;things happened here that never should have happened&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[54,51,53,52],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-apology","tag-ellen-degeneres","tag-toxic-workplace","tag-viewership","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201-winter-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}