Ellen DeGeneres: New accusations of toxic behaviour involving wife Portia de Rossi and staff treatment

Ellen DeGeneres has been hit with explosive new allegations claiming the former TV host hated male employees interacting with her wife, and allowed pressure to be placed on a staff member to delay their child’s critical surgery.

Her apparent deep dislike of chef Gordon Ramsay following his guest appearance on her eponymous show has also been made public.

The list of new accusations reported by the Daily Mail come from a long-time cameraman who worked on DeGeneres’ show for more than a decade but who wanted to remain anonymous.

The program first aired in 2003 before being axed in 2022 amid mounting claims of bullying.

While much has been written about the talk show’s alleged toxic environment, the new claims shed further light on what insiders describe as DeGeneres’ pettiness behind the scenes of the Los Angeles NBC production.

Perhaps the most damaging allegation involves a senior producer being pressured to postpone their child’s major surgery to avoid clashing with filming during the holiday season.

“The kid had a major surgery, like a bone marrow transplant,” the source said. “It was asked of this particular person if the kid’s ‘thing’ — that’s what they referred to it as, was the same week as the Christmas holiday week.

“This was a person pretty high up. This person was asked if they could move the procedure around the Christmas holiday week, for Ellen,” the ex-staffer recalled.

“They were there on the day of the taping that week – Ellen got exactly what she wanted. It was all loyalty to the show, but no loyalty to staff.”

DeGeneres, who famously signed off each episode urging viewers to “be kind”, was already under scrutiny when bullying accusations first surfaced in 2020. She even delivered a televised apology, wearing a white polo-neck and blazer, and insisted she’d been unaware of problems despite her role as executive producer on the $77 million-a-year show.

That apology wasn’t enough to save the program. It was ultimately cancelled in 2022, after which DeGeneres relocated to England with her wife Portia De Rossi.

After a now infamous interview in 2019 with Dakota Johnson, DeGeneres was effectively “cancelled”.

In the exchange, DeGeneres asked Johnson how her birthday party was before saying “I wasn’t invited”.

“Actually no that’s not the truth Ellen, you were invited,” Johnson said.

“The last time I was on the show, last year, you gave me a heap of sh*t for not inviting you. I didn’t even know you liked me.

“I did invite you and you didn’t come.”

“This time you invited me? Are you sure?” Ellen asked.

“Ask everybody,” Johnson replied.

Although it at first appeared to just be a viral and uncomfortable interview, it sparked a movement by current and former staff who made allegations of racism, sexual misconduct and intimidation against executive producers of the show.

After an investigation, three top executives were fired, and DeGeneres issued an apology to her audience, claiming she was unaware of the racism, sexual misconduct and intimidation but took responsibility as it was her show.

Ratings dwindled and eventually, two years later the show aired its final episode.

But according to the cameraman, the star’s behaviour was among the worst on set, with a particular hostility toward men.

“We went through a lot of male employees just in general,” the insider said, noting DeGeneres burned through nine stage managers in a single season, an “insane number”.

“We had a feeling she really didn’t like guys,” he added.

The ex-staffer said DeGeneres bristled if anyone spoke casually with De Rossi during tapings. The actress even had a seat marked with a golden plaque, which stagehands were expected to avoid.

“And listen, you knew, if you see that golden plaque, stay the hell away,” the source recalled.

“Portia was nice, she would say ‘hi’, but Ellen, she would be in her chair, it would be a commercial break, and if she didn’t know you, she would ask about you.

“You just hoped and prayed you weren’t seated by her wife, so you didn’t get her attention.

“You wanted to avoid looking into what we called the ‘Ellen gaze’,” he said.

The source described the “gaze” as a look that narrowed her eyes and sharpened her expression. Crew compared it to the Indiana Jones scene when characters were warned not to look at the deadly Ark of the Covenant.

“She would stare into the crew area where she would slightly bob her head up and down while also panning left to right like a queen looking for her next execution,” the source said. “It was just weird, cameras on, she’d be dancing, doing all this fun stuff, and cameras off, she was terrifying.”

The insider added that turnover on the show was far higher than on other productions. While Tyra Banks’ talk show lost only a few staffers per season, DeGeneres reportedly went through 20 in the same span.

Even high-profile guests weren’t safe. Chef Gordon Ramsay was allegedly frozen out after mocking rancid meat during a cooking demo.

“He gave her some quip. They were doing a food test together, and Ellen offered him a sample first. As soon as he bit in, he was like ‘This is rubbish. This is disgusting’,” the source said. “She didn’t like the reaction. It was like eight seasons he didn’t come back for after.”

The cameraman said even innocent remarks could trigger the host. During one episode, a warm-up comedian joked “Don’t fall!” as she rode a unicycle.

“She told one of her EPs, ‘Don’t let this guy on the show again,’” the source claimed. “You were uninvited as a guest pretty easily.”

Beyond the stage, her reputation for control extended across the WarnerBros. lot in Burbank.

“There was a PA who couldn’t move his golf cart fast enough because he was blocking Ellen — trying to get out of the way — on the campus, Ellen was in her car,” the insider said.

“That guy was fired three days later — he worked on a different show. This was after a taping as she was leaving.” It remains unclear if his dismissal was directly tied to the incident.

The cameraman added DeGeneres would occasionally make small talk during staff holiday parties, but only then. He further claimed producers actively tried to stop former staffers finding work elsewhere after leaving Ellen.

Bullying allegations first went public in 2020 via BuzzFeed, with staffers accusing producers of creating a toxic culture where workers were even fired for taking bereavement leave.

Ellen has been contacted for a statement.