Ellen DeGeneres is ready to call it quits on her talk shows after staff slammed the star's apology in response to claims of a toxic work environment, DailyMail.com is reporting.
An insider at Telepictures told DailyMail.com the host is telling executives at Telepictures and Warner Bros that she has had enough and wants to walk away from the show.
"She feels she can't go on and the only way to recover her personal brand from this is to shut down the show," they said.
"The truth is she knew what was going on, it's her show. The buck stops with her. She can blame every executive under the sun – but Ellen is ultimately the one to blame."
Staff slammed the Hollywood star for shifting the blame onto her executive producers in an apology memo released this week.
Ellen addressed allegations of workplace bullying in a letter to staff. Photo / Getty Images
"Don't think for a minute anything she has said in that apology means anything. She created and then enabled this toxic culture to go on for so long," one staffer told DailyMail.com.
"If anyone had come to her or those three vile EPs [executive producers] to complain, they would've been fired.
"Inside Telepictures we've had enough of her. She is a phony who does not practise what she preaches.
"The behavior of her show executives has been appalling, but [Ellen] is no better. In fact, she is the worst. It's outrageous that she is trying to pretend that this is all a shock to her. The fish rots from the head, and Ellen is the head.
"She has been phoning it in for so long, and only staying for the money and celebrity it affords her.
"We've dealt with her BS for so many years, she's not innocent at all, she's not nice and the show is not filled with happiness."
In her apology, DeGeneres noted that steps would be taken to "correct the issues".
"As we've grown exponentially, I've not been able to stay on top of everything and relied on others to do their jobs as they knew I'd want them done. Clearly some didn't," she wrote in the letter to staff.
"That will now change and I'm committed to ensuring this does not happen again."
The talk show queen said that, had it not been for coronavirus, she would have "done this in person", and said she was "so sorry" to anyone who had not loved working on the show.
DeGeneres acknowledged the irony of the allegations as she herself had called the show "a place of happiness".
"As someone who was judged and nearly lost everything for just being who I am, I truly understand and have deep compassion for those being looked at differently, or treated unfairly, not equal, or – worse – disregarded," she wrote.
