Toxic work environment
Your office is the pits? You’re not alone. Even Hollywood has to deal with this problem. From The Ellen DeGeneres Show to Desperate Housewives, here are some of the less-than-desirable workplaces in Tinseltown.
IS the work environment at some of the world’s most popular television, film and entertainment companies really as toxic as some employees have made it out to be?
In the last couple of months, several shows, most notably talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, have faced such allegations.
From accusations of bullying and verbal abuse to racism and gaslighting, here are eight major productions – including superhero blockbuster Justice League and hit Netflix series Stranger Things – that are reportedly terrible to work for behind the scenes.
1. The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003 to present)
Talk show host, comedienne and actress Ellen DeGeneres has won multiple awards – including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honour – and broken new ground in her four decades in the entertainment industry.
All of that threatened to be undone when website Buzzfeed reported in July that mostly former employees alleged that they faced issues such as racism and sexual harassment in the workplace.
The claims were especially shocking for a show where the host signs off each episode with the phrase, “Be kind to one another.”
DeGeneres, 62, apologised to her staff early last month and an internal review by her show’s parent company WarnerMedia resulted in three producers being ousted.
While some celebrities like singer Katy Perry and actor Kevin Hart have come to her defence, pop diva Mariah Carey said recently that DeGeneres made her “extremely uncomfortable” when she was probed about her pregnancy on the show in 2008.
2. Justice League (2017)
In July, 32-year-old actor Ray Fisher dropped a bombshell when he tweeted that director Joss Whedon’s on-set behaviour was “gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable”.
Whedon, 56, took over the DC Comics movie from original director Zack Snyder, who withdrew after a family tragedy.
Fisher, who plays superhero Cyborg, also blamed producers Geoff Johns and Jon Berg for enabling Whedon’s behaviour.
Late last month, trade publication Variety reported that parent company WarnerMedia has launched an investigation into the film’s production.
Fisher also tweeted that the company hired an independent third party to investigate his allegations. No findings have been reported yet.
3. Stranger Things (2016 to present)
In 2018, a former crew member of the hit Netflix horror-science-fiction series accused creators and twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer of being verbally abusive on set.
Peyton Brown wrote on Instagram: “I personally witnessed two men in high positions of power on that set seek out and verbally abuse multiple women.”
Netflix conducted an internal investigation, but found no wrongdoing.
The brothers later apologised in a statement: “Due to the high-stress nature of production, tempers occasionally get frayed.”
They added that they were committed to providing a safe working environment.
4. Charmed (1998 To 2006)
The television series was centred on a group of siblings who are modern, good witches, but in reality, it appeared that the relationship between leads Rose McGowan and Alyssa Milano was far from sisterly.
McGowan, 47, who joined the show in its fourth season in 2001, alleged last month that her former co-star was unpleasant to work with during filming.
Addressing Milano on Twitter, McGowan wrote “you threw a fit in front of the crew, yelling, ‘They don’t pay me enough to do this s**t!’” and that she cried every time the series was renewed because Milano made the set toxic.
She then uploaded a 2018 interview clip, where she said she did not like Milano and accused her of being “a lie”.
Milano, 47, later told entertainment news outlet E! News that “commenting any further doesn’t align with my wellness plan”.
5. TMZ
A former host of the celebrity gossip news outlet and its sister website TooFab has accused both of having a sexist and misogynistic work culture.
The ex-production assistant and on-air contributor, Bernadette Zilio, filed a lawsuit against parent companies Warner Bros Entertainment and EHM Productions last month, claiming she was fired after complaining about the toxic and sexist work culture.
A spokesman for TMZ and TooFab refuted the allegations, saying they “parted ways” with Zilio due to “incidents of plagiarism and inaccurate reporting”.
“This is a blatant attempt to use negative publicity and inaccurate claims to force TooFab and TMZ to pay a monetary settlement.”
6. Desperate Housewives (2004 to 2012)
After her character was killed off in 2009, actress Nicollette Sheridan, 56, filed a lawsuit against the comedy drama’s creator Marc Cherry, network ABC and production studio Touchstone.
She alleged she was a victim of assault and battery by Cherry on the set and was fired after she made a report against him.
While a judge threw out the case, the court battle revealed details about the feud among its cast, which also included Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman. For example, Cherry, 58, testified in court that Sheridan described main actress Hatcher as the “meanest woman in the world”.
7. Arrested Development (2003 to 2019)
During a New York Times interview with the cast of the acclaimed sitcom in 2018, veteran actress Jessica Walter broke down when she recounted how she was verbally harassed on set by actor Jeffrey Tambor.
Her other male co-stars came to Tambor’s defence, including Jason Bateman, who said such behaviour was common in the entertainment industry. Walter, 71, said Tambor has apologised to her. Still, she added in the same interview: “In like almost 60 years of working, I’ve never had anybody yell at me like that on a set.”
Bateman, 51, also later apologised for seemingly condoning Tambor’s behaviour.
Tambor, 76, has also faced several allegations of sexual misconduct, including one by a makeup artist on the set of 2001 comedy Never Again.
8. Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj (2018 to 2020)
Combining comedy with political analysis, the Netflix show hosted by American comedian Hasan Minhaj has won awards, including an Emmy and a Peabody.
A week after Netflix announced last month that it was cancelling the show, without giving any explanation, a former employee, Pakistani producer Nur Nasreen, tweeted that she was “humiliated and gaslit, targeted and ignored” on set.
The show, she added, should have “practised the progressive ethos they cultivated on screen”.
Another former employee, journalist Sheila V. Kumar, had earlier tweeted that she had “never been more unhappy” than when she was working on the show.
Amy Zhang, a former writer and producer, also tweeted that women of colour were “silenced, treated unfairly and made to later doubt their own skills in a toxic newsroom”. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network