Former Ellen Show producer claims star ‘snarled’ at her daughter and ‘laughed’ at distressed staffers

A former producer of the Ellen show has levelled further claims at the disgraced host during a segment on Seven’s Sunrise program.

Hedda Muskat was one of the senior producers on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show during the 2003 season, and told Sunrise hosts Natalie Barr and David Koch that the star would “laugh” at staffers while they were being publicly berated.

Muskat also said that the atmosphere of the workplace changed when Ed Glavin was hired to executive produce the program.

Last week Buzzfeed reported fresh allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct by Glavin, executive producer Kevin Leman and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman.

“He became her (DeGeneres) dog, her voice,” Muskat said.

“I was privy in meetings while he went off at people with a vein bulging in his neck... she would turn around, laugh and say that ‘every production needs their dog.’”

• Talk show queen Ellen DeGeneres issues apology for staff over on-set ‘toxic behaviour’
• Sexual harassment allegations rock The Ellen Show

Muskat also described a number of incidents where DeGeneres would “snarl” at her, including one time when she tried to introduce her young daughter to the A-lister.

“On this particular day, I remember bringing my daughter in... I wanted to introducer her to Ellen. She just snarled again and walked by,” Muskat said.

“I was flabbergasted that she didn’t even make eye contact, I was the lead producer on the show and I was shown so much disrespect.”

Muskat was then later warned that DeGeneres “doesn’t want kids in the office.”

The producer then told Barr and Koch that she was “fired for no reason” and claimed Glavin “no longer invited (her) to staff meetings” when she wouldn’t give over her sources.

“I’m a journalist, my sources are my calling card, that’s why you guys hired me, for my sources, that took me 18 years to build,” she said.

The former producer claimed it was DeGeneres’s statement released last week — where she was largely accused of gaslighting and shifting the blame — that prompted Muskat to come forward.

“If I was going to be disgruntled, I would have spoken out in the years after I was let go,” she said.

“I’m doing this to set the record straight that we must not condone a toxic culture that’s happening in the workplace.”