Did ‘Ellen 2.0’ Happen Right Under Netflix’s Nose?

“Patriot Act” never got the mainstream media love of its progressive peers.

Every time Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel or Trevor Noah “destroy” someone from the GOP we hear about it in the media. And it’s not just from the usual entertainment sources like Deadline.com or The Hollywood Reporter.

The Associated Press and other allegedly mainstream news services often do the same.

Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix talker didn’t get that kind of media love. Now, the weekly show is no more, canceled by the streaming service earlier this month. Only a show producer has mixed feelings about the show’s exit, stage far left.

Nur Nasreen Ibrahim.

The former producer on the short-lived “The Opposition with Jordan Klepper” shared some disturbing Tweets following the show’s cancellation.

“A lot of people have asked me to talk about Patriot Act,” wrote Nasreen. “I avoided it because each time I relive the experience of being humiliated and gaslit, targeted and ignored. I sink back into days of depression.” she added.

“I am proud of my work there to this day. I am also grateful for the opportunities it gave me … But I wonder if it was worth the mental anguish I went through over my last few months there,” she speculated. “I wish we still had Patriot Act. I also wish they truly practiced the progressive ethos they cultivated on screen. Then they would really deserve all your love,” Nasreen concluded saying.

Her Twitter messages inspired similar comments from those connected to the program:

That show was not just one star’s brilliance and charisma. The people whose labor made it what it was were treated horribly, and I’ve watched my friends break down in real time from what they went through while working there. https://t.co/9hbhKsEzCt

— Iva Dixit (@ivadixit) August 21, 2020

The sender followed that up with this equally cryptic comment, which Nasreen-Ibrahim, a Snopes.com contributor, thanked the person for sending.

So many tweets about P*triot *ct have been sitting in my drafts. Okay to mourn a good thing, but after the ubiquitous paeans to its greatness, all I’ll say is please interrogate your beacons of representation and how they behave once they acquire power and authority

— Iva Dixit (@ivadixit) August 21, 2020

Others weighed in on the matter:

brown women like @Nuri_ibrahim + @SheilaVee were treated so badly at @patriotact, and it’s a crucial thing for anyone who loved the show to know.

labor matters, labor is political, if you treat your workers badly but preach progressiveness otherwise it’ll catch up to ya https://t.co/Md3i7Odnu0

— Sarah Thankam Mathews (@smathewss) August 21, 2020

Here’s another confirmation of Nasreen-Ibrahim’s take on “Patriot Act.”

While Patriot Act should be celebrated for the underrepresented voice it brought to a blizzard white genre, it should also be condemned. Nur is my brilliant friend who, among other WOC, faced mistreatment while employed by the show. Absolutely no workplace is immune to prejudice. https://t.co/1s6BlM4uI6

— Wil Kauffman (👈 Hire me) (@wilburman4) August 22, 2020

So far, Nasreen-Ibrahim’s tweets have received near-zero attention from the media, especially given headlines surrounding the toxic atmosphere behind-the-scenes at “Ellen.” Newsweek, to its credit, shared her concerns with its readers. The Pakistani news source linked above did as well.

That’s it, according to a good faith Google News search.

RELATED: Meet Today’s Late Night TV Show Hosts

It’s not the first time a “Patriot Act” employee complained about the work culture on the show. Consider these Tweets from June regarding the Netflix series from writer Sheila V. Kumar.

I’ve been thinking all day about @prachigu and @amalykinz‘s tweets on their former workplaces, and how much courage it must have taken to speak out. So I’d like to join them and say, I’ve never been more unhappy than when I was working at Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj.

— Sheila V Kumar (@SheilaVee) June 8, 2020

Let me finish by saying: my tolerance for this industry is very, very high. I’ve worked at some difficult places.

I’ve never experienced a work environment like Patriot Act.

— Sheila V Kumar (@SheilaVee) June 8, 2020

These messages similarly got ignored by the mainstream media and Hollywood press at the time.

Why?

More importantly, did these complaints factor into the show’s cancellation?

HiT has reached out to Netflix for comment on these allegations. The company did not respond to a similar press request from Newsweek. 

UPDATE: Two days later, HiT has yet to receive a response from Netflix on the matter.