Katy Perry has spoken out over the controversy about her tweet in defence of talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.
Last week, Katy posted a tweet about her positive experiences of working with Ellen, after it was confirmed that her talk show was under an internal investigation over allegations of a toxic work environment.
This included allegations of racism, unfair dismissal, intimidation and an overall toxic environment, perpetuated by the show’s senior producers, as outlined in a BuzzFeed News article.
Earlier this month, Katy tweeted: “I know I can’t speak for anyone else’s experience besides my own but I want to acknowledge that I have only ever had positive takeaways from my time with Ellen & on the @theellenshow.
“I think we all have witnessed the light & continual fight for equality that she has brought to the world through her platform for decades. Sending you love & a hug, friend.”
Many of Katy’s friends were upset with her tweets, suggesting they undermined the points made by those employees who had chosen to speak out, with the Smile singer addressing this in a new interview with the LA Times.
“I started that tweet off not undermining anyone else’s experience,” Katy insisted. “I wanted to only speak from my own experience.
“I have over 100 million people that follow me on Twitter, so not everyone is going to agree with me. And I’m not here to make everyone agree with me.”
Other friends of Ellen, including comedian Kevin Hart, music manager Scooter Braun and actors Ashton Kutcher and Diane Keaton, faced similar controversy for their own tweets in defence of the talk show host.
Katy’s comments come after Ellen’s in-house DJ Stephen “tWitch” Boss broke his silence on the matter, and was generally supportive of the comedian.
He told Us Weekly: “We can’t speak too much legally about it, but I’ll say this, there’s been love.
“Obviously there’s some things to address, but from my standpoint and from countless others, there’s been love. I’ll just leave it at that until there’s a time where we can address more publicly. There’s been love and there will continue to be love.”
Since the claims about the work environment on her show were made public, Ellen has apologised to her employees in a staff-wide email.
She wrote: “On day one of our show, I told everyone in our first meeting that The Ellen DeGeneres Show would be a place of happiness – no one would ever raise their voice, and everyone would be treated with respect.
“Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry. Anyone who knows me knows it’s the opposite of what I believe and what I hoped for our show.”
