Ellen DeGeneres loses 1m viewers after apologies for toxic workplace
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Host Ellen DeGeneres has mused on the possibility of leaving her show in recent years.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
LOS ANGELES • When Ellen DeGeneres returned from a summer hiatus to open the 18th season of her daytime talk show last September, she came armed with an apology.
"I learnt that things happen here that never should have happened," she said. "I take that very seriously. And I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected."
Those remarks came in the wake of reports of workplace misconduct at The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Viewers tuned in for the apology. The season opener had the highest ratings for an Ellen premiere in four years. And then they tuned out.
The show has lost more than one million viewers since last September, according to research firm Nielsen, averaging 1.5 million viewers over the past six months, down from 2.6 million in the same period last year.
The decline has come at a time when workplace behaviour, in Hollywood and elsewhere, has come under intense scrutiny against a backdrop of protest and social change.
It is a startling setback for one of daytime television's most successful franchises and for DeGeneres, who was at the forefront of an earlier cultural shift when, as the star of a prime-time network sitcom in the 1990s, she announced she is gay.
The show's loss of more than one million viewers translates into a 43 per cent decline, representing a steeper drop than any of its competitors, such as Dr Phil (2.5 million) and Live With Kelly And Ryan (2.7 million).
DeGeneres, 63, has publicly mused on the possibility of leaving the show in recent years and the spotlight on her workplace troubles has added to the questions about her future.
Public perception of DeGeneres started to change in July last year, when BuzzFeed reported that several of the show's former and current staff members said they had confronted "racism, fear and intimidation" on the set.
Several staff members also said producers had sexually harassed them. Warner Bros investigated the workplace and three high-level producers were fired.
Some observers believe the accusations may have weakened DeGeneres' relationship with her audience.
The host built her show as an oasis from the outside world, a place of goofy dancing, light jokes, cash giveaways to surprised audience members and high-wattage celebrity guests.
NYTIMES