Alec Baldwin has joined the ranks of the celebrities supporting Ellen DeGeneres as she attempts to bounce back from a potentially career-destroying expose about working conditions on her talk show.
A handful of current and former employees went public with claims the set of The Ellen DeGeneres Show was a “toxic” environment of misconduct, bad behavior and harassment in a BuzzFeed expose over the summer.
The scandal prompted DeGeneres to apologize to her staff and promise conditions would get better, while three producers on the show were fired following an investigation.
See what Steve Harvey has to say about Ellen
Many of her famous friends and show guests quickly stepped up to support Ellen, and during an appearance on her show on Wednesday (September 23, 2020), Baldwin urged her not to let the controversy get her down.
“Ellen, I just want to say… I’ve followed your career from when you were doing stand-up and you were a solo performer,” the new dad said. “I’ve watched the films you’ve done and I’ve watched your success on this TV show, and you are one of the funniest and most talented women, one of the most funny and talented people in all of showbusiness. We all have some patches of white water here, but you keep going. Don’t you stop doing what you’re doing.”
DeGeneres welcomed viewers to the 18th season of her hit daytime show on Monday, by insisting she was “starting a new chapter”.
“As you may have heard, this summer there were allegations of a toxic work environment at our show and then there was an investigation,” she said in the monologue of her season premiere. “I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously, and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected.
“I know that I am in a position of privilege and power and I realize that with that comes responsibility, and I take responsibility at what happens at my show. This is The Ellen DeGeneres Show. I am Ellen DeGeneres. We have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks about the show, our workplace and what we want for the future. We have made the necessary changes and today, we are starting a new chapter.”
