DEGENERATES?
‘Ellen’ bigs accused of sexual misconduct
Three male producers at “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” have been accused of sexual misconduct at the daytime TV juggernaut, ranging from inappropriate comments and touching to assault.
The accusations against head writer Kevin Leman, executive producer Ed Glavin and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman were published late Thursday in a BuzzFeed News exposé reportedly based on interviews with dozens of former “Ellen” employees.
Leman and Norman quickly denied the allegations in statements. Glavin did not immediately issue a public response.
The BuzzFeed story broke the same day The Hollywood Reporter obtained a letter that DeGeneres sent to show staff promising to “correct the issues” plaguing the off-camera office environment.
Actor Brad Garrett called out the host for the overall atmosphere of the show — but not the allegations in the BuzzFeed story.
“Sorry but it comes from the top,” the stand-up comedian and star of “Everybody Loves Raymond” tweeted early Friday, tagging the Emmy Award-winning host. “[I] know more than one who were treated horribly by her.
Common knowledge,” he added, sharing a story about DeGeneres’ public apology to her staff.
In the salacious allegations about the producers, one exemployee reportedly said Leman asked if he could manually pleasure him or perform oral sex in a bathroom at a company party in 2013, according to BuzzFeed.
Another allegedly saw Leman grab a production assistant’s penis, and yet another reportedly saw Leman grope a production assistant in a car and kiss his neck in May 2017, the outlet said.
Several former employees said it was common for Leman to make sexually explicit comments at work and ask colleagues about their sex lives.
“He’d probably do it in front of 10 people and they’d laugh because ‘it’s just Kevin being Kevin,’ but if you’re in a position of power at a company, you don’t just get to touch me like that,” one former employee reportedly said.
Leman categorically denied “any kind of sexual impropriety” in a statement.
“I started at the Ellen Show as a PA [production assistant] more than 17 years ago and have devoted my career to work my way to the position I now hold. While my job as head writer is to come up with jokes — and, during that process, we can occasionally push the envelope — I’m horrified that some of my attempts at humor may have caused offense,” he told BuzzFeed.
“I have always aimed to treat everyone on the staff with kindness, inclusivity and respect. In my whole time on the show, to my knowledge, I’ve never had a single HR or inter-personal complaint made about me, and I am devastated beyond belief that this kind of malicious and misleading article could be published,” he said.
Five former employees reportedly told BuzzFeed that Glavin touched them inappropriately in ways that included rubbing their shoulders and back or placing his hand around their lower waist.
“(Glavin) had a reputation for being handsy with women,” one reportedly said.
“You could definitely see the creep factor and the creepy touching. That was out in the open for everybody to see,” one former employee who claimed Glavin regularly touched her in the control room told BuzzFeed.
Forty-seven former employees reportedly told BuzzFeed that Glavin led with intimidation and fear on a daily basis.
One reportedly said that when they turned in their notice, Glavin flipped over a table while screaming.
Five employees reportedly said Glavin also used a button at his desk to remotely shut his office door “as an intimidation tactic” during reprimands.
Another former employee said Norman allegedly groomed him over a period of time by taking him to concerts and other work-related social outings and then one night attempted to perform oral sex on him.
Three colleagues corroborated the ex-employee’s story, saying he told them about the incident at the time.