The Ellen DeGeneres Show was a risk from the start; TV station groups were reluctant to take on the comedian who had publicly come out as a lesbian in 1994. “I don’t know what they thought,” DeGeneres said, “that I would stand in front of a rainbow flag and play a heavy rotation of Melissa Etheridge, Indigo Girls and k.d. lang?” Still, her daytime talk show was a feel-good show; she danced, she did giveaways and audiences liked her charming and friendly demeanor. That started to change slowly, with an interview here, rumors about DeGeneres being mean there. But the bomb dropped in July of 2020, when Buzzfeed ran two articles describing a racist, sexist and toxic environment on the set of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “That ‘be kind’ bull**t only happens when the cameras are on,” said one former staffer. “It’s all for show.” Another former staffer agreed. “The office is a place where sexual harassment and misconduct by top executive producers runs rampant.” DeGeneres was quick to defend herself. “On day one of our show, I told everyone in our first meeting that The Ellen DeGeneres Show would be a place of happiness—no one would ever raise their voice, and everyone would be treated with respect,” she wrote in a letter to staff. “Obviously, something changed, and I am disappointed to learn that this has not been the case. And for that, I am sorry. Anyone who knows me knows it’s the opposite of what I believe and what I hoped for our show.” She added: “My name is on the show and everything we do and I take responsibility for that.” Still, Warner Bros did an internal investigation and producers were fired. The show lost ratings, celebrity guests and advertisers after the articles came out. Finally, the show announced it would be coming to a close after 19 seasons. Keep reading to find out what the allegations were, who predicted DeGeneres’ downfall and what DeGeneres will be doing when the show is over.
What are the Ellen Show allegations?
When Buzzfeed published the articles about the show’s environment, fans were shocked and surprised. Former staffers alleged that there was sexual misconduct, harassment, racism and a general “mean” air to their workplace. “I’m sorry, I only know the names of the white people who work here,” a former black staffer says she was told. Another staffer says they were given a hard time taking off for medical leave after an accident and two family funerals. “That’s the definition of a toxic work environment, where they make you feel like you’re going insane and then you’re like, no, everything I was feeling was right," they said. “It was all leading up to this.” “We all have a kind of ‘this isn’t normal’ feeling about how people get treated there,” one former employee said. “And there’s this ushering out the door. Or your contract isn’t renewed the minute you ruffle anyone’s feathers. Or you don’t show that you’re extremely grateful and appreciative to work there.” After DeGeneres’ statement, many didn’t buy it. Everybody Loves Raymond star Brad Garrett tweeted, “Sorry but it comes from the top. @TheEllenShow Know more than one who were treated horribly by her. Common knowledge.” Actress Lea Thomspon agreed. “True story,” she tweeted. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, show staffers were also upset because they were told very little about their jobs and when they would be returning—only to be told to expect a 60% reduction in pay. And what’s more, nonunion, outside tech staffers had been hired to help DeGeneres film the show at home. Warner Bros. took responsibility for this, claiming, “Due to social distancing requirements, technical changes in the way the show is produced had to be made to comply with city ordinances and public health protocols.”
What happened between Ellen and Dakota Johnson?
Problems existed before the Buzzfeed articles. Long before the bombshell revelations about the show’s problems, in November 2019, Dakota Johnson was a guest, and since then, there have been many memes that pinpoint this as the moment that DeGeneres started to fall out of favor. DeGeneres chided Johnson for not inviting her to her birthday party, and Johnson pointedly said, “Actually, no, that’s not the truth, Ellen. You were invited.” DeGeneres looked surprised and Johnson told her to ask “everybody” and in particular, “Jonathan,” a producer. As it turns out, DeGeneres was in fact invited—but did not go because she wasn’t available. What started Ellen DeGeneres’ downfall? Even before the Johnson interview, as early as 2018, there were whisperings that all was not well on DeGeneres’ talk show–and that she was not a very nice person. She was asked by the New York Times (in a piece called “Ellen DeGeneres Is Not as Nice as You Think”) about rumors that she was the opposite of her on-air persona and was unkind to employees. Her response? “That bugs me if someone is saying that because it’s an outright lie.” She added: “The first day I said: ‘The one thing I want is everyone here to be happy and proud of where they work, and if not, don’t work here.’ No one is going to raise their voice or not be grateful. That’s the rule to this day.” Some fans also had trouble with the fact that DeGeneres seemed to be pals with homophobic people. DeGeneres admitted that she called the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to reinstate Kevin Hart as the host of the 2019 Oscars after he was fired for homophobic statements he’d made. This confused many in the LGBTQ+ community, who wondered why she would take such an action. Later in 2019, she was seen talking with former President George W. Bush at a football game. The president had supported a bay on gay marriage (DeGeneres is herself married to actress Portia de Rossi.) “People were upset,” she said the next week on her show. “They thought, ‘Why is a gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative Republican president?’” But she said that he was her friend. “Here’s the thing: I’m friends with George Bush. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have. We’re all different, and I think that we’ve forgotten that that’s okay that we’re all different.”
What is the Ellen backlash?
Things really got heated for DeGeneres personally when comedian Kevin T. Porter offered to donate $2 to a food bank for every “insane” story about DeGeneres because she was “notoriously one of the meanest people alive.” He ended up donating $600, even though he admitted that things got out of hand and it was “hard to tell now” which stories were true and untrue. Soon afterward, DeGeneres cracked a joke that being in quarantine because of COVID-19 was like being in jail. “One thing that I’ve learned from being in quarantine is that people—this is like being in jail, is what it is,” she said in a video. “It’s mostly because I’ve been wearing the same clothes for 10 days and everyone in here is gay.” Fans recoiled, pointing out that she was living in a mansion and on a private estate while conditions in prisons were dire, particularly during the pandemic. The video was then made private. Some people always expected a backlash against the comedian, however. Fellow comedian and former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell says she knew there would be a backlash as soon as DeGeneres started being called “the queen of nice.” “I said the day it came out, ‘look at this, the queen of nice," she said in a 2021 SiriusXM interview. “In a couple years it’s going to be the queen of lice, the queen of fried rice, you know, the queen of we don’t like her anymore.” “I don’t think it was the ‘be kind’ thing that got her. I think that’s oversimplification,” O’Donnell told SiriusXM. “But it was a lot of things, and it was complicated, and I’m glad that she’s, you know, going to be finished and she can get some time to herself.”
Why is the Ellen show ending in 2022?
Despite all the controversies, the talk show host says she’s ending the show because she needs a new challenge. “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 told The Hollywood Reporter last May. There are some rumors that she may return to standup comedy after the show is over.
When will the last Ellen DeGeneres Show air?
The last show will air on May 26 on local stations at different times.
