Ellen DeGeneres is officially ending her talk show. The comedian/actress/talk show magnate has confirmed that Ellen will end in 2022 when it wraps up its 19th and now final season. The news arrives after DeGeneres has spent the better part of a year digging out of the toxic workplace scandal that erupted in the summer of 2020. After a BuzzFeed exposé accused DeGeneres of overseeing a work culture full of “alleged racism and intimidation,” she watched her reputation as the “Just Be Kind” lady circle down the drain as the show struggled to book guests and hold on to advertisers.
However, in a candid interview with The Hollywood Reporter on her decision to end the show, DeGeneres claims the recent scandal did not weigh into her thought process (“If I was quitting the show because of that, I wouldn’t have come back this season.”) and that the move was based on a plan she made back in 2018. According to DeGeneres, she had committed herself to ending things in season 19 despite urgings from her brother, producers, and Warner Bros. to keep going:
When we did our 3,000th show, they showed that highlights montage and everybody was emotional. We all hugged and everyone had tears in their eyes, and Mike Darnell was here going, “You really want to [end this]?” Look, it’s going to be really hard on the last day, but I also know it’s time. I’m a creative person, and when you’re a creative person you constantly need to be challenged, which is why I decided to host the Oscars or why I decided to go back to stand up when I didn’t think I would. I just needed something to challenge me. And as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore.
As for what DeGeneres plans to do next, not even she knows. After being on the air for 19 years, her agent has encouraged her to “sit still for a minute” before diving into her next project, but she doesn’t see that happening. ” I’m like a Ferrari in neutral,” DeGeneres said. “I’m constantly needing to go.”
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
