People claiming to be ex-employees of Ellen DeGeneres are sharing some startling experiences they’re said to have had with the presenter.

The stories began circulating after comedian Kevin T Porter told Twitter he would donate $2 to a food bank in Los Angeles for every “insane story” his followers repeated about DeGeneres, whom he branded “notoriously one of the meanest people alive”.

It wasn’t too long before the alleged stories started flooding in, with apparent former TV workers revealing some eyebrow-raising accusations about their time behind-the-scenes on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

One story claimed that DeGeneres would send her staff home if they had failed to chew gum before speaking to her.

“She has a ‘sensitive nose’ so everyone must chew gum from a bowl outside her office before talking to her and if she thinks you smell that day you have to go home and shower,” one tweeter wrote.

Another added: “A new staff member was told ‘every day she picks someone different to really hate. It’s not your fault, just suck it up for the day and she’ll be mean to someone else the next day.’ They didn’t believe it but it ended up being entirely true.”

DeGeneres also apparently “had a PA fired for leading her to set the ‘long’ way”.

Someone who says she served the host at Real Food Daily claims that DeGeneres wrote a letter to the owner complaining about her chipped nail polish, which almost got her fired.

At the time of writing, Porter had donated $600 to the food bank.

A few tweeters called the decision to share the stories – which are unverified – “mean spirited”. One wrote: “Why would you encourage negativity, especially at such a trying time?”