Fans of the long-running talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show were shocked by the announcement that the show would be ending in 2022. The cancellation of the show comes after a year of controversy surrounding Ellen and her executive staff members, with one former employee calling the workplace “toxic.”
Now, the 63-year-old is insisting workplace allegations were not the reason for her show ending.
In a statement released to *The Hollywood Reporter* on Wednesday, Ellen said:
“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.”
Ellen went on to tell *THR* that the show has gone on longer than she anticipated.
“I was going to stop after season 16. That was going to be my last season and they wanted to sign for four more years and I said I’d sign for maybe for one. They were saying there was no way to sign for one.”
“So, we [settled] on three more years and I knew that would be my last,” she continued.
“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.”
The cancellation of she show comes after a year of workplace misconduct allegations.
It all started with a thread on Twitter in March of 2020 with people telling their most outrageous stories about the talk show host.
The alleged stories included people who worked for Ellen, and people who had interacted with her throughout the years.
The tweets were shocking to fans who had been following the talkshow host for years,
“My friend wrote for the Ellen Show for two years and told me Ellen didn’t greet her once,” alleged one user. “In fact, upon employment, staff were told they weren’t allowed to talk to her.”
This mistreatment is a far cry from Ellen’s signature parting message to “be kind.”
“Was wrking on a show @ WB that was next to her stage. Was our showrunner’s 50th Bday. Caterer grilling steaks outside for special fancy lunch. Ellen sent someone over to demand they stop, as she doesn’t eat meat. She’s the worst,” shared another user.
A few weeks after that thread went viral, a few of Ellen’s employee’s spoke to Variety about their mistreatment while working on the show.
The article claimed Ellen’s staff was subjected to poor communication in regards to their pay, hours, and their mental and physical health.
Now, the talkshow veteran is opening up about her decision to end her show next year in a new interview with *TODAY.*
When asked by Savannah Guthrie if she was leaving the show due to the toxic workplace allegations, Ellen replied : “If it was why I was quitting, I would have not come back this year.”
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“I really did think about not coming back, because it was devastating.”
She continued: “It started with attacks on me and attacking everything that I stand for and believe in and built my career around … I am a kind person. I am a person who likes to make people happy.”
The 63-year-old went on to explain she had no idea what was going on behind the scenes at her show.
“I don’t know how I could have known when there’s 225 employees here and there are a lot of different buildings,” she explained. “Unless I actually stayed here until that last person goes home at night.
“It’s my name on the show, so clearly it affects me, and I have to be the one to stand up and say this can’t be tolerated,” she added.
What do you make of Ellen’s comments? Will you miss the show? Let us know in the comments below!
h/t: TODAY
