What Ellen DeGeneres Has Said About Her Talk Show Ending

Ellen DeGeneres's daytime TV chat show will end next year but she maintained the decision was not motivated by the allegations of bullying and accusations of a toxic workplace environment that emerged last year.

Produced by Warner Brothers, The Ellen DeGeneres Show has run for 18 seasons and it reached its 3,000th episode on April 29 this year.

All the episodes were hosted by the 63-year-old, one of the icons of American TV and one of its highest-paid stars, with a salary reported to be in the region of $75 million.

DeGeneres signed a three-year deal extension to her contract in 2019, which means her decision to step away from the show will coincide with the end of her deal.

According to the Daily Mail, which first reported the news on Wednesday, DeGeneres has told her team the show will end at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season. The report indicated declining ratings may have played a significant role in convincing the TV star and Warner Brothers to pull the plug.

Viewership declined by 59 percent in Los Angeles and 50 percent in San Francisco, while ratings in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia have dropped from between 40 percent and 32 percent.

"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.

A staple of daytime TV since it debuted in 2003, The Ellen DeGeneres Show has won over 60 daytime awards but was rocked by allegations of bullying and harassment, which emerged last year. In late July 2020, BuzzFeed News reported that several of the 36 former show employees it had spoken to had reported incidents of assault, harassment and sexual misconduct.

In September last year, DeGeneres apologized to viewers on air after the bullying allegations surfaced. She said the show had made "necessary changes", apologized to employees who had been affected and confirmed three executive producers—Jonathan Norman, Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman—were fired.

"I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously, and I want to say I am so sorry to the people that were affected,"

"I know that I'm in a position of privilege and power, and I realize that with that comes responsibility, and I take responsibility for what happens at my show. This is The Ellen DeGeneres Show. I am Ellen DeGeneres."

However, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, DeGeneres insisted the bullying and harassment scandal was not behind her decision to quit.

"If I was quitting the show because of that, I wouldn't have come back this season," she explained. "So, it's not why I'm stopping."