‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ Employees Describe Toxic Work Environment
Photo by: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal Reading Time: 2 minutes
Current and former employees of The Kelly Clarkson Show have spoken out about an allegedly toxic work environment on the set of the talk show. They anonymously told Rolling Stone that host Kelly Clarkson is apparently unaware of how unhappy people are.
The Kelly Clarkson Show Employees Speak Out Against Producers
“NBC is protecting the show because it’s their new money maker, but Kelly has no clue how unhappy her staff is,” a former employee told Rolling Stone, while another described the show’s executive producer Alex Duda as “a monster.”
Some lower-level staffers at the show have apparently taken other jobs to pay their bills. One former employee said the show “deteriorated my mental health.” They ended up quitting after a producer yelled and cursed at them multiple times. Another former employee took a leave of absence because they “truly couldn’t handle it mentally.”
“Kelly is fantastic. She is a person who never treats anyone with anything but dignity and is incredibly appreciative,” a former employee said of the host. “I would be shocked if she knew. I’d be floored if she knew the staff wasn’t getting paid for two weeks of Christmas hiatus. The Kelly that I interacted with and that everyone knows would probably be pretty aghast to learn that.”
Several of the employees have reportedly spoken to HR about the issues, to no avail. As one former employee said, “You would think that they would be very proactive and actually care, but they just nod their heads and take notes and it goes nowhere.”
SEE ALSO: ‘THE KELLY CLARKSON SHOW’ SET TO MOVE PRODUCTION TO NEW YORK CITY
The Show Is Being Investigated by the WGA
The Writers Guild of America has reportedly launched an investigation into The Kelly Clarkson Show. According to Rolling Stone, only writers are allowed to write on a unionized show, but some episodes were allegedly written by producers.
Earlier this year, it was also reported that the American Federation of Musicians was suing NBC Universal for allegedly failing to pay members of the union who worked on shows such as The Kelly Clarkson Show.
“All these daytime shows are supposed to make you feel good and be happy,” a current employee told Rolling Stone. “Kelly [Clarkson] uses a sign-off, ‘Make it a great day, and if it’s not great, change it,’ but it’s hard to exist and work in a machine that’s pumping out this happy, bubbly, positive messaging [when] you have people here who are just treated badly.”
NBC, Alex Duda, and Kelly Clarkson have apparently not responded to the outlet’s requests for comment.
