VIDEO: Ellen Addresses Misconduct Claims in Season 18 Opener Monologue

Earlier this summer, Ellen Degeneres and her staff were accused of creating a toxic work environment at "The Ellen Show." She addressed these claims in her season 18 opening monologue.

See the clip below!

Here is a full transcript of the monologue, via Buzzfeed:

"Oh, boy. Welcome to Season 18 of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. If you're watching because you love me, thank you. If you're watching because you don't love me, welcome.

"How was everybody's summer? Good, yeah? Mine was great. Super terrific. I'm so happy to be back in the studio. There's a lot of things I want to talk about. I've been looking forward to addressing it all directly and unfortunately talking directly to people has been illegal for six months so I have a virtual audience here instead. Here you all are. You look beautiful and I'm sure you smell great - that's what I'm imagining anyway.

"All right, let's get to it. As you may have heard, this summer there were allegations of a toxic work environment at our show and then there was an investigation. I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected. I know that I'm in a position of privilege and power and I realized that with that comes responsibility, and I take responsibility for what happens at my show. This is The Ellen DeGeneres Show. I am Ellen DeGeneres. My name is there, my name is there, my name is on underwear. We have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks about the show, our workplace, and what we want for the future. We have made the necessary changes and today we are starting a new chapter.

"There were also articles in the press and on social media that said that I am not who I appeared to be on TV, because I became known as the 'be kind' lady. And here's how that happened: I started saying 'be kind to one another' after a young man named Tyler Clementi took his own LIFE AFTER being bullied for being gay. I thought the world needed more kindness and it was a reminder that we all needed that, and I think we need it more than ever right now. Being known as the 'be kind' lady is a tricky position to be in. So let me give you some advice out there if anybody's thinking of changing their title or giving yourself a nickname, do not go with the 'be kind' lady. DON'T do it. The truth is I am that person that you see on TV.

"I am also a lot of other things. Sometimes I get sad, I get mad, I get anxious, I get frustrated, I get impatient. And I am working on all of that. I am a work in progress, and I'm especially working on the impatience thing because, and it's not going well, because it's not happening fast enough I will tell you that.

"Listen, you know, I don't know, I am a talk show host and you know that, but maybe some of you know that, you know, I was an actress. I've played a straight woman in movies so I'm a pretty good actress. But I don't think that I'm that good that I could come out here every day for 17 years and fool you. This is me and my intention is to always be the best person I can be. And if I've ever let someone down, if I've ever hurt their feelings, I am so sorry for that. If that's ever the case, I have let myself down and I've hurt myself as well because I always try to grow as a person. I look at everything that comes into my life as an opportunity to learn. I got into this business to make people laugh and feel good - that's my favorite thing to do. That and Jenga, I love that game.

"And now I am a boss of 270 people, 270 people who helped make this show what it is, 270 people who I am so grateful for. All I want is for every single one of them to be happy and to be proud to work here. This has been a horrible summer for people all around the world. People are losing their jobs, people are losing loved ones to a pandemic, people are losing their homes and lives in raging fires that are going on. There's blatant racial injustice all around us. I watch the news and I feel like, Where do we even begin? So my hope is that we can still be a place of happiness and joy. I still want to be THE ONE hour a day that people can go to escape and laugh. I want to continue to help all the people that we help every day. And I'm committed to making this the best season that we have ever had."

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