Ellen DeGeneresis walking away from her namesake talk show.
“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,” DeGeneres, 63, toldTHR.
Ellendebuted in 2003, and over the years the hit program has earned 64 Daytime Emmys.
Wednesday’s announcement comes almost a year afterthe show became embroiled controversy last summer amidallegations of workplace toxicity, prompting aninternal investigation. Since the September premiere in which DeGeneres addressed the allegations, the show has lost more than a million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings.
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
“As you may have heard, this summer there were accusations of a toxic work environment at our show, and then there was an investigation,” DeGeneres told viewers during theseason 18 premiereon Sep. 21. “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 who were affected.”
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Three top producers — Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman and Jonathan Norman —parted ways with the showamid the controversy. Staffers learned in August that they wouldreceive increased benefits.
“Ellen is definitely a perfectionist and knows she can be difficult, but she never wanted to come across as mean-spirited,” a sourcetold PEOPLElast year. “She is looking at herself to make changes.”
Ellen DeGeneres.Brooks Kraft/Getty
In the interview withTHR, DeGeneres said while the controversy “almost impacted” her show, it was not the reason behind her decision to end it.
“It almost impacted the show. It was very hurtful to me. I mean,very. But if I was quitting the show because of that, I wouldn’t have come back this season,” she said. “So, it’s not why I’m stopping but it was hard because I was sitting at home, it was summer, and I see a story that people have to chew gum before they talk to me and I’m like, ‘Okay, this is hilarious.’ Then I see another story of some other ridiculous thing and then it just didn’t stop. And I wasn’t working, so I had no platform, and I didn’t want to address it on [Twitter] and I thought if I just don’t address it, it’s going to go away because it was all so stupid.”
source: people.com
