'” the outlet continued.Leman denied the allegations in a statement obtained by Buzzfeed, saying:I started at the Ellen Show as a PA more than 17 years ago and have devoted my career to work my way to the position I now hold. I have never 'groomed' anyone," he said. “Unless she really is just in this bubble.”Another longtime former employee who also worked with DeGeneres said the talk show host “doesn’t want to know” about what goes on behind the scenes, and “nobody wants to rock the boat” because she is essentially the show’s brand.“She knows,” the former employee said. Before you even see his desk, you see his shower. Three of the employee’s former colleagues on the show corroborated that he told them about the incident at the time and said they have discussed it in the years since.“We’re young people who were forming our careers and were unfortunately subjected to a toxic work environment as some of our first jobs out of college,” the former employee said. One employee accused Kevin Leman, the show’s head writer and executive producer, of soliciting oral sex from him, and others said that Leman inappropriately touched and commented on others. “The shower is right when you walk in on the right. They also said executive producers “insulate” her from details and control the narrative on set.“Everyone acted really differently around her,” one former employee said. In a new report, dozen of employees from “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” have accused their executive producers of sexual harassment.

"BuzzFeed News spoke to 36 former employees, many of whom independently corroborated incidents of harassment, sexual misconduct, and assault from top producers like Leman. And though not all of the allegations were corroborated, we are disappointed that the primary findings of the investigation indicated some deficiencies related to the show’s day-to-day management. Another said they separately saw Leman grab a production assistant’s penis.In May 2017, another former employee also said she saw Leman grope a production assistant in a car and kiss his neck.Nearly a dozen former employees, who range from longtime, senior-level employees to production assistants, said it was also common for Leman to make sexually explicit comments in the office, like pointing out male colleagues’ bulges in their crotches, or ask them questions like, “Are you a top or a bottom?”“It’s masked in sarcasm, but it’s not sarcasm,” a former employee said.Many of his targets, employees added, were lower-level and younger employees who felt they lacked any power to speak up.“He’d probably do it in front of 10 people and they’d laugh because ‘it’s just Kevin being Kevin,’ but if you’re in a position of power at a company, you don’t just get to touch me like that,” a former employee said.In a statement after this article was published, Leman said he categorically denied "any kind of sexual impropriety. Kevin Leman II is the head writer and executive producer of The Ellen DeGeneres Show who has recently been accused of sexual misconduct.. … From left: producers Jonathan Norman, Andy Lassner, Kevin Leman, Ed Glavin, and Mary Connelly pose with the daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment for One ex-employee said head writer and executive producer Kevin Leman asked him if he could give him a hand job or perform oral sex in a bathroom at a company party in 2013. "The Ellen DeGeneres Show is, and has always strived to be, a place that brings positivity to the world. "We have identified several staffing changes, along with appropriate measures to address the issues that have been raised, and are taking the first steps to implement them.”Ellen DeGeneres poses with the Outstanding Talk Show Host Emmy award in 2008.In a letter to staff that was obtained by BuzzFeed News, DeGeneres on Thursday apologized, saying that from its inception, the show was supposed to be a place of “happiness” where “everyone would be treated with respect.”“Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case.