Sexual harassment allegations rock The Ellen Show

Explosive allegations of sexual harassment have rocked The Ellen Show and its host Ellen DeGeneres.

Earlier today DeGeneres was forced to apologise to her staff for condoning a toxic work environment. She penned a letter promising to “do better”, but only hours later a disturbing report published by Buzfeed claims dozens of employees from the show have come forward, revealing were subjected to sexual misconduct by senior employees.

The report alleges some senior executives were sexually explicit, and “handsy” towards both junior and fellow senior staff members.

At the centre of the allegations is outgoing executive producer Ed Glavin and head writer and executive producer Kevin Leman.

Accordingly to a former staff member, Leman asked him if he could give or receive oral sex at a work party in 2013. Leman has also been accused of inappropriately groping a production assistant. He would also allegedly also make crude remarks asking questions if male employees were a “top or bottom”.

“It’s masked in sarcasm, but it’s not sarcasm,” a former employee told Buzzfeed.

Five former employees spoke out against Glavin, expressing their disdain at how he would rub their shoulders and their back and would place his hand around their waist.

“You could definitely see the creep factor and the creepy touching. That was out in the open for everybody to see,” a former employee told Buzzfeed.

“Obviously, no one wants that and no one wants to be uncomfortably touched by someone … but you didn’t want to piss them off or you would be fired, so it was just that culture of fear”

Leman has come out and vehemently denied the allegations and “any kind of sexual impropriety”, however admitting he did sometimes “push the envelope” in a statement.

“I started at the Ellen Show as a PA 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 humour may have caused offense,” he said. “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.”

Buzzfeed said they spoke to 36 former employees who independently corroborated incidents of harassment, sexual misconduct and assault. All employees asked to remain anonymous in “fear of retribution”.

Warner Bros. declined to comment however told the outlet it “hoped to determine the validity and extent of publicly reported allegations and to understand the full breadth of the show’s day-to-day culture.”

"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,” it added.