Ellen DeGeneres shared on Twitter, on 29 April, “Today we taped the final episode of The Ellen Show which airs on May 26th.” The Ellen DeGeneres Show (or The Ellen Show) debuted on 8 September 2003 and has run successfully for 19 seasons.
She further wrote, "When we started this show in 2003, the iPhone didn’t exist. Social Media didn’t exist. Gay marriage wasn’t legal. We watched the world change, sometimes for the better, sometimes not."
"But whatever was happening, my goal was always for the show to be a place where we could all come together and laugh for an hour. Being invited into your lives has been the greatest privilege of my life and has brought me incredible joy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," DeGeneres wrote.
On 30 April 1997, DeGeneres came out as gay publicly on her sitcom in the episode ‘The Puppy Episode’ which was taped in front of the live audience. The comedian-host had also opened up about her sexuality in Time magazine and the cover read “Yep, I’m Gay”. She also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show with her then partner.
DeGeneres recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of her coming out publicly and said, in her monologue, “When I came out, people warned me that it was going to ruin my career, and they were right for a while. Actually, for exactly three years, I lost my career. But look at me now.”
In a video DeGeneres had shared on Twitter, she thanked her audience for ‘accepting her for who she is’, “This job has been one of the greatest honors of my life. Thank you for inviting me into your homes for 19 years and accepting me for who I am.”
She added, “I am so grateful that I’ve had this platform to not only give a voice to the gay community but to all people who feel like they’re not seen. That, to me, is something I’m most proud of…that and solving yesterday’s Wordle in two tries. Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
Ellen had also shared a compilation of celebrities and crew members talking about the impact Ellen has had on their lives. Comedian Wanda Sykes said, “Ellen really moved the needle as far as, like, acceptance and tolerance.”
“I remember the cultural impact of it after it happened. People seemed to have very extreme reactions to it,” Sarah Paulson said. Several crew members also recalled that Ellen publicly coming out helped them on their own journey of coming out and acceptance.
However, the wildly popular The Ellen Show ran into its share of controversies. In 2020, BuzzFeed News published testimonies from anonymous employees accusing the show of being a ‘toxic workplace’ and had accused the executive producers of harassment. Some had also alleged that the racist statements and microaggressions were prevalent at the workplace.
DeGeneres had apologised to her staff and had said that she wanted her show to be a place where ‘no one would ever raise their voice, and everyone would be treated with respect' and she was disappointed that this had not happened.
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