'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' Cleans House – Three Execs Axed

"The Ellen DeGeneres Show" cleaned house on Monday, writes Variety in an exclusive report.

The show "has overhauled its senior production team in the wake of accusations of racial insensitivity, sexual misconduct and other problems in the work environment at the long-running daytime talk show," the entertainment magazine reports.

In the overhaul, senior producers – executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman, and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman – were removed from the Warner Bros. syndicated show. The oustings came in the wake of "damning reports" by various media sources, most notably Buzzfeed.

Those executives who remain include veterans Mary Connelly, Andy Lassner and Derek Westervelt. They will remain at the show as executive producers alongside host DeGeneres. Connelly, Lassner and Westervelt have been with the show since its inception in 2003.

The news broke on Monday afternoon during a video staff meeting in which DeGeneres spoke to the staff. Variety reports that "DeGeneres was emotional to the point of tears, and apologetic as she addressed more than 200 staffers. According to multiple sources, DeGeneres told the staff she was 'not perfect' and realized that in the effort for the show to run as a 'well-oiled machine,' sometimes leaders were not as sensitive to 'human beings' as they should have been. She added that reading disturbing allegations about the atmosphere on the show was 'heartbreaking.'"

She also noted that in the future she planned to stick to agreed-upon timetables to make the production process smoother. In the past she has been known to alienate staffers and even guests by shifting timetables on short notice, Variety writes.

At the meeting the staff was told that Warner Bros. had interviewed more than 100 people connected to the show and concluded "there was no evidence of "systemic" racism on the show, although there was an acknowledgment that more needed to be done in terms of diversity and inclusion," writes Variety. "DeGeneres and others vowed that everyone on staff – including DeGeneres – will participate in diversity and inclusion workshops. The host also announced that the show's resident DJ, Stephen "tWitch" Boss, was promoted to co-executive producer."

Warner Bros. declined when asked for specifics about the report. The staffers attended the meeting remotely, but DeGeneres promised to meet with them in small groups when pandemic restrictions are lifted.

"The departures had been expected ever since Glavin, Leman and Norman were cited in a July 30 story published by BuzzFeed about allegations of misconduct, harassment and questionable behavior on the set of the show," reports Variety. "The trio was suspended in the wake of the BuzzFeed story and have since been terminated, multiple sources said."