Why is 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' Ending? Star host will lose $50M a year as 'nice' image takes a beating
Ellen DeGeneres on Wednesday, May 12, announced that her popular daytime program, 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show', will end after after its upcoming season - which will be the show's 19th. She spoke to the Hollywood Reporter about her decision, stating, "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."
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Why is 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' ending?
Sexual misconduct, toxic work culture accusations:
While the public announcement came on May 12, Ellen reportedly informed her staff members about her decision on May 11; she is also expected to sit down with Oprah Winfrey on May 13 to discuss her decision, and where she will reveal more about the reasons for terminating the popular show. However, speculation is that the controversies plaguing the show and drop in its ratings could have played big parts in her decision.
DeGeneres' show has been mired in controversy since 2020, and it all started with accusations of workplace harassment. The accusations alleged a toxic work culture, discrimination, and sexual harassment. The brand of DeGeneres was built on niceness, but with the news about how things were being handled off-camera, the image of the brand and the show was tarnished.
Many former employees revealed that executive producers engaged in rampant sexual misconduct, with one even speaking about a particular producer who "had a reputation for being handsy with women". After this, the show went on but the ratings plunged. At that time, DeGeneres had said, "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 also added, "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."
While DeGeneres herself was not named in any of the allegations, it was her name on the show, and that only further damaged the show's ratings following the scandals.
Hangout with George W Bush outed:
I haven’t watched Ellen Degeneres since her continuous efforts to prop up war criminal George W. Bush.
— Yogi 🟡 (@YogiSunlight) March 23, 2021
She’s not a politician. There is something strange about these photo ops. pic.twitter.com/lwvcCXMr1B
The accusations by former employees, however, were not the beginning of the show's downfall. It started with DeGeneres' time out with former president George W Bush getting outed. The two of them were caught together in Texas, at a Dallas Cowboys game. This caused a backlash online because the Bush administration was known for supporting anti-LGBTQ policies, which struck her fans as wrong since DeGeneres is gay herself.
All of this was outed when DeGeneres asked Dakota Johnson why she was not invited to the star's 30th birthday party, and was promptly told that she had indeed been invited. Turned out, this was the time when she was spotted in Texas and was caught fibbing.
Amid this background and the falling TRP ratings came DeGeneres' announcement. The show is now expected to end in 2022 after the completion of its 19th season.
Will Ellen DeGeneres lose out on $50 million a year payout?
As a result of DeGeneres' decision to end the show, it has been revealed that the actor may lose out the huge payout she has been receiving for her show, which Variety reported was estimated around $50 million annually. The high payout was due to the fact that DeGeneres took a part of the profits home from her show, and Forbes recently speculated that she might have received much less for the 18th season because of the low ratings.