Management by fear !
I have a friend who worked for The Ellen DeGeneres Show from 2012 – 2016. This person claims the work environment was extremely toxic. People where fired for no reason, back stabbing culture, informant culture, co workers left out in the cold, constant nagging about underperforming, pay cuts, departments pinned up against each other and that Ellen DeGeneres is a complete sociopath that thrives on hate. Completely two faced. People who work there burn out and have to have professional help to recover.
Furthermore if one quit or don’t accept the corporate culture this will limit your work in similar segments as you are labeled “hard to work with” and that Ellen DeGeneres directly have derailed and crashed several careers with her network of friends. Many have had to change careers completely as no one would hire them after working for the The Ellen DeGeneres show as their references given where poor to terrible.
Its also claimed that Warner Brothers knew about this but did nothing as the ratings was too good to give up. Its all a numbers game.