Ellen DeGeneres shares post about ‘missing’ her staff after ‘mean’ accusations from ex-employees

TV host appeared to subtly hint at alleged encounters on Instagram

Ellen DeGeneres may have just hit back at accusations of “mean” behaviour from alleged ex-employees in a new Instagram post.

The TV personality was at the centre of a contentious tweet that saw a comedian promise to donate $2 to a food bank in Los Angeles for every “insane story” his followers repeated about DeGeneres, whom he branded “notoriously one of the meanest people alive”.

It wasn’t too long before the alleged stories started flooding in, with apparent former TV workers and Los Angeles residents revealing some eyebrow-raising accusations about their time behind-the-scenes on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Comic Kevin T Porter, who launched the viral campaign, ended up donating $600.

DeGeneres later posted a video to her Instagram, which was captioned with a message dedicated to her staff, whom she said she missed while being in isolation because of coronavirus.

“This was my show staff’s planned spring break week,” she wrote. ”I’ve asked them all to continue to stay home with their loved ones, and disconnect for a week. And I wish I hadn’t. I miss them. But I’ll be posting lots more next week when they’re back.

“Until then, enjoy today’s Safer-at-Home Spring Break 2020. Day 1.”

The initial accusations claimed that DeGeneres would send her staff home if they had failed to chew gum before speaking to her and that she “had a PA fired for leading her to set the ‘long’ way”.

A few tweeters called the decision to share the stories – which are unverified – “mean spirited”. One wrote: “Why would you encourage negativity, especially at such a trying time?”

A representative for DeGeneres and The Ellen Show failed to comment.