Warner Bros. Television is denying a report claiming crew members of The Ellen DeGeneres Show have been left in limbo over health and compensation in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Variety reported Friday that crew members of the long-running daytime talk show are furious over their treatment from top producers, alleging that they have received no written communication about the status of their working hours, pay, or inquiries about their mental and physical health from producers for more than a month.
The trade magazine cited anonymous sources, who added that the crew was further enraged by the show’s decision to hire an outside, non-union company to help DeGeneres tape remotely from her home. DeGeneres has said in recent social media posts that she is self-quarantining with family members at her Santa Barbara estate.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show is produced by Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros.
The studio denied the allegations contained in the report. “Our executive producers and Telepictures are committed to taking care of our staff and crew and have made decisions first and foremost with them in mind,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. The studio said the crew has been paid consistently, though at reduced hours.
However, the studio acknowledged that its communications could have been better and blamed the chaos around the coronavirus.
Variety reported that crew members were left in the dark about if and how much they would be paid during the early weeks of the outbreak. They were reportedly blindsided when DeGeneres had a remote set installed at her residence, which they learned about via social media.
Crew members were also upset to learn DeGeneres was expanding her output from hosting four shows a week to five, without any official word from producers.
Variety said the crew was last paid in full for the week of March 16, when the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank closed down in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly all crew members were told last week to brace for a 60 percent reduction in pay, even as the show continues to air, sources told the trade magazine.
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