‘The Kelly Clarkson Show:’ Reports Of Toxic Work Environment

Former employees at The Kelly Clarkson Show have reported that the show has a toxic work environment. Some former staffers (and one current employee) have spoken out in a new article on Rolling Stone. Reports are that Kelly is not the problem and has "no clue how unhappy her staff is."

Behind the scenes, former employees say they were overworked and underpaid and that working at the show was traumatizing and damaging to their mental health. According to the publication, several former show employees spoke them on the condition that they remain anonymous. The former employees say the toxic behavior behind the scenes starts with executive producer and showrunner Alex Duda, who previously served as an executive producer on Steve Harvey and The Tyra Banks Show. One employee said, "I think Alex Duda's a monster. I have a friend who's an executive producer who warned me about taking this job because, apparently, she has done this on every show she's worked on."

As for Clarkson, one former employee says, "Kelly is fantastic. She is a person who never treats anyone with anything but dignity and is incredibly appreciative. 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."

Another former employee who worked in TV said, "This is by far the worst experience I've ever had in my entire life. It deterred me from wanting to work in daytime [television] ever again. When I say I was traumatized, I was really traumatized."

A third former employee says they had a follow-up call with HR after their exit interview regarding their issues with two producers. The HR representative told them they found the producers' behavior unprofessional, but ultimately, those same producers ended up getting promotions. They noted, "I don't know what HR does at that show, frankly. Nothing of consequence happened."

NBC did not provide a comment to Roling Stone on the story, and Kelly Clarkson and the show's executive producer, Alex Duda, did not respond to separate requests for comment.

The Kelly Clarkson Show leads in ratings boasting 1.4 million daily viewers as of December 2022.

Kelly Clarkson keeps cranking out amazing covers in her Kellyoke series. The singer and talk show host never fails to entertain with her genre-spanning covers. From Destiny's Child to Lenny Kravitz to Chris Stapleton, you don't know what song she will put her own spin on next.

Clarkson previously released an album of six of her covers from 2022 after "singing over 500" on The Kelly Clarkson Show, which she said was "near-impossible" to choose. The Kellyoke album was released in June of 2022 and features the following songs:

Announcing her upcoming 10th studio album, Chemistry, the singer said she didn’t want “everybody” to think that her emotions could just be simplified as angry or sad. She explained in a video, “This album is definitely the arc of an entire relationship, and a whole relationship shouldn’t be just brought down to one thing. So there’s the good, the bad, the ugly thing kinda going on in it.”

In addition to new music, Clarkson will also be heading to Las Vegas, singing fan favorites and new songs, for a 10-show residency starting July 28.

See our favorite Kellyoke performances of 2023 so far below:

Kelly playfully made Taylor's version her own, as she notes in the caption.

Kelly's rendition of "Do I Wanna Know?" is so powerful and we might like it even better than the original!

Kelly kicked off Black History Month with this powerhouse cover of Destiny Child's 2001 hit song.

Clarkson shows the softness of her voice in this beautiful ballad by emerging artist, Joy Oladokun.

Though it is impossible to out-sing Cher, Clarkson's rendition of 1998's "Strong Enough" is fun and high energy.

Clarkson gives CeCe Peniston a run for her money in this groovy dance cover.

Clarkson blew us away with her version of rock band Spacehog's 1994 song.

Kelly lets us know it ain't over till it's over in this Lenny Kravitz cover of "It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over."

The talk show host covered one of our favorite Janet Jackson songs: "When I Think of You."

Starting off the song slow, Kelly ups the energy in this classic dance pop song, "Gotta Get Thru This."

Kelly kicked off Spring with another Florence + the Machine cover, belting out "Free."

We are loving this soulful cover of Jazmine Sullivan's Grammy-award-winning song.

Kelly and Shazam!'s Zachary Levi harmonized beautifully in this cover of 'Something Stupid' by Nancy and Frank Sinatra.

We love how effortless and natural Kelly sounds in her cover of Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack."

Clarkson breathes new life into Death Cab for Cutie's "You Are a Tourist."

Kelly has the vocal power to make this Mazzy Star cover both dreamy and calming, yet powerful and commanding.

Kelly gave the Pixies a run for their money when she covered "Where Is My Mind?" in February.

Clarkson evoked her inner Stapleton when she covered this smooth cover of "Tennessee Whiskey."

Adele who? Clarkson blew her fellow powerhouse singer away in her rendition of this Adele classic.

These two powerhouse singers might be the most iconic pairing of all time! Kelly harmonizes beautifully with P!nk, allowing her to take the spotlight.

Her performance of Chris De Burgh's signature song from 1986 is simply beautiful.