Back to the Future star Lea Thompson backs up claim of Ellen DeGeneres' 'horrible' behind-the-scenes behaviour

TV host has been branded ‘notoriously one of the meanest people’

Back to the Future star Lea Thompson has backed up a claim that Ellen DeGeneres’ “mean” behaviour is “common knowledge” in Hollywood.

On Thursday (30 July), actor Brad Garrett said that he “knows more than one who were treated horribly” by the US host months after numerous allegations of on-set mistreatment came to light.

Thompson, who played Lorraine Baines-McFly in the 1980s trilogy, shared a report of Garrett's comments, stating: “True story. It is.”

Everybody Loves Raymond star Garrett appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show six times between 2004 and 2007.

DeGeneres, 62, has issued an apology to former staff members after an investigation by WarnerMedia found “deficiencies in day-today management” on the set of her popular chat show.

The investigation was sparked after a number of ex-staff members shared anonymous accounts of their negative experiences working on the series.

Ten former crew members initially came forward to make allegations of mistreatment by producers and other staff members, which were published in a Buzzfeed News report.

Many of the accusers claimed that the show’s production environment was “dominated by fear”, and claimed that employees who did not complain about work hours or microaggressions were rewarded.

A source claimed: “They feel that everybody who works at The Ellen Show is lucky to work there – ‘So if you have a problem, you should leave because we’ll hire someone else because everybody wants to work here’.”

DeGeneres, who is reportedly worth $330m (£264m), was not directly blamed for the workplace environment in these particular instances.

However, weeks before, she found herself at the centre of several accusations of “mean” behaviour after comedian Kevin T Porter pledged to donate $2 to a Los Angeles food bank for every “insane story” his Twitter followers tweeted to him about her.

DeGeneres has found herself at the centre of numerous allegations of ‘mean’ behaviour (Getty Images for GLAAD)

He branded DeGeneres “notoriously one of the meanest people alive”.

One story claimed that DeGeneres would send her staff home if they had failed to chew gum before speaking to her.

“She has a ‘sensitive nose’ so everyone must chew gum from a bowl outside her office before talking to her and if she thinks you smell that day you have to go home and shower,” one tweeter wrote.

Another added: “A new staff member was told ‘every day she picks someone different to really hate. It’s not your fault, just suck it up for the day and she’ll be mean to someone else the next day.’ They didn’t believe it but it ended up being entirely true.”

DeGeneres declined to comment.

Earlier this month, the show’s production company denied speculation that it will be cancelled as a result of the above allegations.