Ellen Degeneres is hanging up her microphone and sneakers.
The embattled comic has confirmed she will pull the cord on her long-running daytime talk show when her contract expires after the upcoming 19th season.
“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.
The one time “Queen of Nice” has seen her empire begin to crumble in the past year, shedding advertisers and ratings amid allegations that three of the show’s executive producers oversaw a workplace culture where sexual harassment and inappropriate touching was commonplace.
“That ‘be kind’ bullshit only happens when the cameras are on. It’s all for show,” a former employee told BuzzFeed News in July 2020. “I know they give money to people and help them out, but it’s for show.”
Several producers were let go the following month and Degeneres, 63, attempted to do some damage control, insisting, “My name is on the show and everything we do and I take responsibility for that.”
But it may have been too little, too late.
‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ began in 2003 and has aired over 3000 original episodes with 2500-plus celebrity guests.
The star informed her staff yesterday and is expected to discuss the decision with daytime legend Oprah Winfrey in a special episode airing Thursday.
As for future projects: “I don’t even know the answer,” she tells THR. “I’ve been trying to think about that. I have some ideas.”
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