After returning for a 19th season — following a behind-the-scenes bullying controversy that led to the dismissal of three top producers — The Ellen DeGeneres Show is coming to an end.
“When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore,” DeGeneres tells The Hollywood Reporter of her decision to pull the plug after this season.
The Hollywood Reporter says the talk show giant will discuss her decision with another giant of the format — Oprah Winfrey — on Thursday’s installment of the show.
DeGeneres had previously explained that her wife Portia de Rossi wanted her to end the show as far back as 2018, but Ellen tells the Hollywood Reporter that she signed up for another three seasons with the understanding that those would be her last.
As for the controversy that caused the show to go on hiatus — for which Ellen apologized to her staffers — the comedian said it wasn’t ultimately behind the decision to end the show. However, she admits it affected her deeply.
“My whole being is about making people happy,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter. “…[E]verything I stand for was being attacked. So, it destroyed me, honestly. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t.”
DeGeneres says she learned about the “toxic workplace” allegations from the press, and seemed to blame cancel culture for the story exploding.
As she noted, “[T]here are some bad people out there and those people shouldn’t work again but, in general, the culture today is one where you can’t learn and grow, which is…what we’re here to do.”
“[I]t was easy clickbait to say, ‘Oh, the ‘be kind’ lady isn’t so kind.’… I am kind,” Ellen insisted.
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