Ellen DeGeneres assures employee support as her digital venture deals with redundancies

Ellen DeGeneres wants her team to know she is there for them while they deal with layoffs.

Ellen Digital Ventures, a digital extension of The Ellen DeGeneres Show which produces content for EllenTube, was recently hit by redundancies as WarnerMedia goes through a restructuring. Ellen DeGeneres addressed the layoffs in a digital meeting with the employees, which was attended by executive producers Mary Connelly and Andy Lassner and executive vice president of programming at Warner Bros. Television, David McGuire.

According to a report in Buzzfeed News, Ellen told her team she was "heartbroken" at the redundancies and will be available for employee support while they go through the transition. The 62-year-old said: "I obviously as am heartbroken as everybody, but we have to know that this is all for the good of EDV, and we need to keep this going because we have such a great team and we believe in y'all, and we will get through this just like we've gotten through all kinds of other things."

The talk show host, who was hit by a series of toxic workplace allegations earlier this year, further told her employees: "Know that we believe in you and I know this is hard for y'all to hear, and we are here for you."

Irrespective of the layoffs, executive producer Andy Lassner believes that the future is a bright one for Ellen Digital Ventures. He said the company is "hoping to turn the tide" after it suffered a loss due to the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, co-executive producer Mary Connelly applauded the team for "what you've done and what you've accomplished."

An employee told the outlet that they were informed beforehand about the lack of revenues and that the content was underperforming. The higher-ups informed them that the organisation would be scaling back productions after the loss of advertisers.

The layoffs come just months after Ellen apologised on TV for the toxic work culture on her show and promised the start of a new chapter. In her opening monologue on the premiere episode of the 18th season of her show, Ellen said: "I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously, and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected."

Executive producers Andy and Mary also released a joint statement to address the allegations, and said: "We are truly heartbroken and sorry to learn that even one person in our production family has had a negative experience. It's not who we are and not who we strive to be, and not the mission Ellen has set for us."