Ellen crew members allege they were kept in the dark amid coronavirus pandemic

Variety

When Ellen DeGeneres resumed her daytime talk show from her home on April 7 nearly a month after coronavirus shutdown, she specifically mentioned “my staff and crew. I love them, I miss them, the best thing I can do to support them is to keep the show on the air." But the core stage crew of more than 30 employees that run Ellen's talk show, many of whom have been with the show since it launched in 2003, "received no written communication about the status of their working hours, pay, or inquiries about their mental and physical health from producers for over a month," sources told Variety, which adds: "The crew was further incensed by the show’s recent hire of an outside, non-union tech company to help DeGeneres tape remotely from her home in California." The crew members, who haven't worked since the week of March 9, say they were finally informed last week they would need to brace for a 60% reduction in pay even as the show continues to air. Crew members were particularly incensed over a remote set erected at Ellen's residence, which they learned about through social media, according to Variety. They were particularly angry that a non-union audiovisual house was hired "to help produce technical elements of the show while crew members with the same skills sit idle," reports Variety's Matt Donnelly. "Each of DeGeneres’ crew is affiliated with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union." Donnelly adds that the "radio silence from producers created anxiety among crew members who feared they would be furloughed and, in that case, would need to explore unemployment benefits." A Warner Bros. spokesperson acknowledged that communication could have been better, but cited complications due to the chaos caused by coronavirus. The spokesperson added that nobody has lot their jobs in the hiring of the outside audiovisual house. Variety's story comes one week after Ellen faced backlash for a joke comparing being quarantined in her mansion to being in prison.