Ellen DeGeneres’ Producer Andy Lassner Speaks Out Amid Talk Show Controversy: ‘It’s Been Rough’

Speaking his truth. Ellen DeGeneres’ producer Andy Lassner spoke out following allegations of workplace misconduct on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“Oh look who it is. If it isn’t Andy Lassner,” Ellen’s righthand guy said in a video shared to Instagram on Sunday, August 30. “Well, yes it is. Your eyes do not deceive you. I’m back. I’ve been away for a little bit, dealing with — you know, some stuff. You may have read about it.”

“It’s been a couple of rough months. But it’s when we go through these things, I guess, when we learn the most about ourselves, and maybe even some growth,” he continued. “But to tell you it hasn’t been rough would be a lie, and I’ve always been honest with you. It’s been rough. But I’m back.” To wrap up his personal message, he added, “I love you guys; I miss you and I’ll talk to you soon.”

Andy’s kind words to his fans comes shortly after executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman, and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman were let go from the show following an internal investigation into claims of workplace misconduct.

On July 19, Buzzfeed News published a shocking exposé detailing the experiences of several former employees of The Ellen DeGeneres Show who claim to have experienced a “toxic” work environment. Some even alleged they encountered acts of racism and top producers engaged in “rampant sexual misconduct.” Both Leman and Norman denied the allegations to Buzzfeed News while Glavin has yet to comment.

Following the allegations, DeGeneres addressed the claims in a letter to her staff on July 30. She promised to ensure “this does not happen again” in the notice obtained by Us Weekly. Additionally, producers held a staff meeting on August 3 to discuss heading back to the office in the wake of the controversy. “They said a lot of [the claims are] true and a lot of it is not true. They said we are handling everything [and] things will be very different now,” an insider recalled of their briefing to Us. “A show that brings so much happiness and fun, it should be a happy show to work on. It was a pep talk and made some staffers feel better.”

Despite the drama in recent weeks, DeGeneres clearly still has the support of Lassner and her wife, Portia de Rossi. The Arrested Development actress “believes” the Finding Nemo star’s “side of things” a source exclusively told In Touch in early August. “She’s standing by her.”