“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” won the People’s Choice Award for Daytime Talk Show of 2020 on Sunday, when Ellen accepted the trophy on behalf of her “amazing staff.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you. From deep down in my heart, I thank you,” DeGeneres said. “I am not only accepting this award for myself, I am accepting it on behalf of my amazing crew, my amazing staff who make this show possible. They show up every single day, they give 100% of themselves 100% of the time. That’s 250 people times 170 shows a year times 18 years.”
“I love them all and I thank them for what they do every single day to help that show be the best that we try to make it every single day,” she continued.
Ellen then thanked “all of my fans…For supporting me, for sticking by me,” she said. “I cannot tell you how grateful I am and what this means to me. It’s more than I can possibly tell you — especially right now.”
Watch the video above.
It was a nice moment for DeGeneres — especially considering the other headlines the talk show made in 2020. Ellen and Warner Bros. TV series “Ellen” were accused of cultivating a “toxic” work environment.
WarnerMedia’s investigation into multiple accusations of workplace and sexual misconduct, as first reported by BuzzFeed News, resulted in “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” removing three of its top producers: Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman and Jonathan Norman.
In a memo to staff back in July, DeGeneres said she was “disappointed” to learn that employees felt mistreated while working on her show and committed herself to “ensuring this does not happen again.”
She apologized on TV when the talk show returned months later.
“If you’re watching because you love me, thank you. If you’re watching because you don’t love me, welcome,” DeGeneres joked at the top of her Season 18 premiere’s monologue, which was delivered in front of a virtual audience.
“As you may have heard, this summer there were allegations of a toxic environment here at our show,” she said. “And then there was an investigation. I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously and I want to say I’m so sorry to the people who were affected.”
Watch the monologue mea culpa here.