JUST IN: Ellen DeGeneres to End Talk Show After 19 Seasons Following Toxic Workplace Controversy, Steep Ratings Drop
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Ellen DeGeneres is ending her talk show after 19 seasons, citing a “need to be challenged.”
The news comes after DeGeneres faced a steep decline in ratings this year, losing more than a million viewers following accusations of a toxic workplace.
Despite the timing of the cancellation, DeGeneres told The Hollywood Reporter that it has “been the plan all along” to sign off after Season 19.
“I was going to stop after season 16,” she said. “So, we [settled] on three more years and I knew that would be my last. That’s been the plan all along. And everybody kept saying, even when I signed, “You know, that’s going to be 19, don’t you want to just go to 20? It’s a good number.’ So is 19.”
While THR confirmed the news with an exclusive interview with DeGeneres, The Daily Mail first revealed that the show was ending after speaking to an anonymous source.
“The ratings have tanked and have been truly appalling this year and Ellen knows her time is up,” said the source. “The show has bled viewers since the toxic environment around Ellen and her show was made public.”
DeGeneres, however, gave no indication that her decision to end the show was tied to the allegations, which ultimately led to an internal investigation that found “deficiencies related to the show’s day-to-day management.”
“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,” she said of the decision.
THR’s Lacey Rose asked DeGeneres about the allegations, questioning if they impacted her and her show.
“It almost impacted the show,” DeGeneres said of allegations that she fostered a toxic workplace environment. “It was very hurtful to me. I mean, very. But if I was quitting the show because of that, I wouldn’t have come back this season. So, it’s not why I’m stopping but it was hard because I was sitting at home, it was summer, and I see a story that people have to chew gum before they talk to me and I’m like, ‘Okay, this is hilarious.’”
She went on to say that she learned of the issues from the press, adding that while she laments that “the culture today is one where you can’t learn and grow,” she was heartbroken to learn “that people here had anything other than a fantastic experience — that people were hurt in any way.”
“When it started, with that stupid ‘someone couldn’t look me in the eye’ or whatever the first thing was, it’s like a crest of a wave. Like, ‘This isn’t going to be that big of a wave,'” she added. “And then it just keeps getting bigger and bigger until it was out of control. And I really, honestly, felt like, ‘I don’t deserve this. I don’t need this. I know who I am. I’m a good person.'”
DeGeneres added that understood why people believed the allegations considering they’re “not stopping,” adding, “I started saying ‘be kind to one another’ because I really believe people should be kind to one another and so it was easy clickbait to say, ‘Oh, the be kind lady isn’t so kind.’ … I am kind, I’m also a woman and I’m a boss.”
