Portia de Rossi is standing by her wife, Ellen DeGeneres, amid allegations made by current and former employees about the “toxic” work environment at The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
On Monday, 47-year-old de Rossi — who has been married to DeGeneres since 2008 — shared a post on Instagram with a message reading, “I Stand By Ellen.” DeGeneres has been in the headlines after Warner Bros. Television sent an internal memo late last month informing staffers that WarnerMedia would be seeking the services of an independent third-party firm, which will interview current and former employees about their experiences behind the scenes on the popular daytime talk show, after one current and 10 former employees anonymously spoke with BuzzFeed News about their negative experiences on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in an article published July 16.
De Rossi captioned the post, “To all our fans….we see you. Thank you for your support. #stopbotattacks. #IStandWithEllenDeGeneres #IStandByEllen #IstandByEllenDeGeneres #ellendegeneres #ellen #theellenshow #ellenshow #bekindtooneanother.”
On Monday, Jerry O’Connell also tweeted the “I Stand By Ellen” message, writing, “Love @TheEllenShow & @portiaderossi. Always have. Always will.”
O’Connell isn’t the first celebrity to publicly defend DeGeneres. On Friday, Scooter Braun showed support for the embattled 62-year-old comedian after former Everybody Loves Raymond star Brad Garrett tweeted that mistreatment by DeGeneres was “common knowledge.”
“People love to take shots. They love to see people fall,” Braun wrote on Instagram in part. “How quickly so many forget. How easy it is to stay quiet when it doesn’t effect them. @TheEllenShow is a kind, thoughtful, courageous human being who stands for what is right and highlights on her show the best of us. She has helped change the views for equality all around the country and the world. She doesn’t do what is popular she does what is right. Her story shows us that.”
Meanwhile, in an internal letter sent to show staff, obtained by 360aproko on Thursday, DeGeneres apologized and affirmed that she was committed to “having conversations about fairness and justice.”
“On day one of our show, I told everyone in our first meeting that The Ellen DeGeneres Show would be a place of happiness – no one would ever raise their voice, and everyone would be treated with respect,” DeGeneres wrote in her letter. “Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry. Anyone who knows me knows it’s the opposite of what I believe and what I hoped for our show.”
DeGeneres said she was glad the problems had been brought to her attention and noted that she and Warner Bros. were taking steps to “correct the issues,” pending the results of their internal investigation.
In a statement to 360aproko, Warner Bros. offered more information on the internal investigation, saying that they, and DeGeneres, “take the recent allegations around the show’s workplace culture very seriously.”
“We have identified several staffing changes, along with appropriate measures to address the issues that have been raised, and are taking the first steps to implement them,” the statement read in part. “Warner Bros. and Ellen DeGeneres are all committed to ensuring a workplace based on respect and inclusion. We are confident this course of action will lead us to the right way forward for the show.”
