Ellen DeGeneres pays tribute to producer Matthew Wright after 'shocking' death

Ellen DeGeneres has paid tribute to a former member of her talk show team.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show's executive producer Matthew Wright died at 52 in an "unfathomable tragedy", his family confirmed in a GoFundMe appeal. They did not share his cause of death.

"Hi, everybody," DeGeneres began in a video shared to Instagram on Monday.

"So, Matt Wright, who was our executive producer and was featured on our show a lot, died the other day. And he was an amazing guy. He was funny. God, he made me laugh.

"He would surprise me with things that he did all the time," she continued while holding back tears. "He was smart and he was kind. He was a part of our show. I mean, everyone loved him. I loved him, and it's just shocking.

"We're gonna miss him," she said. "He is, and always will be, the glue to our entire family at the Ellen Show."

"And to Justin, his husband," she concluded, "and to his family, I'm so sorry, because we lost a good guy. He was a good guy."

Andy Lassner, who also worked as an EP on Ellen, shared he was with his former colleague just hours before he died, on the set of The Jennifer Hudson Show's Halloween episode.

"We are all in shock," Lassner wrote on Instagram. "He was a brilliant producer and an even better human being."