Ellen DeGeneres is making her TV comeback two years after her show ended amid a slew of controversy. Photo / Getty Images
Ellen DeGeneres is making her TV comeback two years after her show ended amid a slew of controversy. Photo / Getty Images
Ellen DeGeneres will address her talk show scandal on her final comedy special for Netflix.
After her first special, Relatable, aired in 2018, the funnywoman is returning to the streaming giant when her Ellen’s Last Stand…Up Tour hits screens this summer.
The 66-year-old star has vowed to speak out on the end of her long-running programme, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which ran for 19 seasons from 2003 until 2022, but was marred by accusations of toxic behaviour by several executives in 2020, who were subsequently let go.
She said in a statement: “To answer the questions everyone is asking me- Yes, I’m going to talk about it.
“Yes this is my last special. Yes, Portia really is that pretty in real life.”
Netflix’s vice president of stand-up and comedy formats, Robbie Praw, added: “There is nobody quite like Ellen. She is a true legend and pioneer in so many ways. We can’t wait to bring fans another one of her hilarious comedy specials later this year.”
Whilst seemingly testing out some of her new material at Largo at the Coronet Theater in West Hollywood, last month, DeGeneres admitted it was “so hurtful” the way the show met its end.
She quipped: “Oh yeah, I got kicked out of show business.”
DeGeneres continued: “There’s no mean people in show business. … I became this one-dimensional character who gave stuff away and danced up steps. Do you know how hard it is to dance up steps? Would a mean person dance up steps? Had I ended my show by saying, ‘Go f*** yourself,’ people would’ve been pleasantly surprised.”
She went on to recall her 90s’ sitcom Ellen being cancelled after she came out as gay, and how the knockbacks have impacted her “ego and my self-esteem”.
DeGeneres got emotional when she revealed she would be ending her show in 2022. Photo / Warner Bros
DeGeneres said: “For those of you keeping score, this is the second time I’ve been kicked out of show business. …Eventually they’re going to kick me out for a third time because I’m mean, old and gay.
“It’s been such a toll on my ego and my self-esteem. There’s such extremes in this business, people either love you and idolise you or they hate you, and those people somehow are louder.”
During a Q+A after the stand-up set, she told the audience of the end of her eponymous show: “It was so hurtful. I couldn’t gain perspective. I couldn’t do anything to make myself understand that it wasn’t personal.
“I just thought, ‘Well this is not the way I wanted to end my career, but this is the way it’s ending.’ … I just hated the way the show ended. I love that show so much and I just hated that the last time people would see me is that way.”
