Some networks have chosen to not air episodes of The Ellen Show amidst the toxicity scandal.
But despite the massive backlash, Ellen is coming back to TV -- and it's shockingly soon.
Ellen DeGeneres wrapped up this last season of her show from home, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At that time, staffers were told that they would be receiving reduced pay ... for producing the same amount of episodes.
It looks like this coming season will look very different.
On Tuesday, September 8, Ellen put out a statement.
"I can't wait to get back to work," she revealed, "and back to our studio."
"And, yes," Ellen promised, "we're gonna talk about it."
Season 18 of her talk show will premiere on Monday, September 21. That's not even a full two weeks after her statement.
Not only will they be returning to the Warner Bros. lot in Los Angeles to film, but they will also have a live studio audience.
We can only assume (or at least hope) that the production will mandate layers of precautions to prevent the spread of this deadly virus among anyone brave or foolish enough to attend.
Ellen is counting on a number of "friends of the show" to help draw attention back towards the show itself and away from this summer's scandal.
Tiffany Haddish, Alec Baldwin, Chrissy Teigen, Chris Rock, and newly minted DILF Orlando Bloom will all be on the Season 18 gust list.
In-house DJ Stephen "tWitch" Boss will at times guest-host some episodes.
Some may be tempted to fault these guests for stopping by.
Certainly, Chris Rock spoke out in support of Ellen after she spoke out in support of him just last year, earning them both well-deserved ire.
But it makes real business sense to sthow up in a season that is bound to have high viewership as people tune in to see Ellen address the scandal.
If you have a lot of friends in the service industry, that scandal was no real surprise to you.
There are a number of accounts that have been published, describing Ellen trying to get waiters suspended or fired over minor "flaws" like chipped nail polish.
These stories have been floating around for years, and not all of them have made headlines. Some famous people have cruel streaks.
But things really blew up in March of this year, when beauty vlogger NikkieTutorials shared her negative experience as a guest on the show.
She was not the first guest to have had a rough time, from Mariah Carey's infamous forced pregnancy reveal in 2008 to Dakota Johnson's "actually, that's not the truth, Ellen."
After Nikkie de Jager spoke out, comedian Kevin T Porter started a Twitter thread showcasing people's unpleasant and downright nasty encounters with the beloved talkshow host.
Porter matched those complaints with donations to the LA Regional Food Bank.
In July, BuzzFeed published a report featuring complaints from 10 former staffers on Ellen's show and one current employee.
They described an environment of fear, intimidation, and even racism in their time working on the show.
Warner Bros. announced an internal investigation into the show's toxic culture.
BuzzFeed once again beat them to the punch, publishing sexual misconduct accusations against Kevin Leman, Ed Glavin, and Jonathan Norman -- all high-ranking producers on teh show.
In August, all three men were fired.
Some fear that the show hopes to pin the blame for the toxic work environment upon the fired producers and high-pressure nature of the job.
With that spin on the story, Ellen's only wrong-doing would be not seeing it happen, rather than actively contributing to it.
On the up-side to the show coming back, we are glad that so many people will get to keep their jobs -- and that the jobs may be less miserable than they have been.
