Ellen DeGeneres: I was ‘kicked out of show business’ for being ‘mean’

Ellen DeGeneres has addressed the controversial end of her eponymous daytime talkshow after allegations that it was a toxic workplace.

While performing the opening night of her new Ellen’s Last Stand … Up Tour at the Largo in Los Angeles on Thursday evening, the former daytime host joked about getting “kicked out of show business” for being “mean”.

Related: Ellen DeGeneres walks away from her talkshow empire and leaves behind a mixed legacy

The set, first reported by People and Rolling Stone, referred to a July 2020 investigation by Buzzfeed News based on interviews with numerous employees who alleged racism, sexual misconduct and intimidation at the hands of executive producers at The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The report painted a portrait of a workplace at odds with Ellen’s “be kind” mantra; several employees feared taking medical leave for risk of penalization, and faced retribution for raising complaints, among other allegations.

The investigation led the show to fire three top producers and DeGeneres to issue an on-air apology. Though she said she wasn’t aware of inappropriate behavior from staff, “I’m in a position of privilege and power and … I take responsibility for what happens at my show.”

The show never recovered from the scandal, and ended its 19-year run in May 2022.

Onstage at the Largo, the 66-year-old comedian mused about becoming “the most hated person in America” saying: “I got kicked out of show business. There’s no mean people in show business.”

She lamented how the headlines reduced her television legacy. “The hate went on for a long time and I would try to avoid looking at the news,” she said. “The ‘be kind’ girl wasn’t kind,” DeGeneres continued. “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 fuck yourself,’ people would’ve been pleasantly surprised.”

During an audience Q&A session after the routine, DeGeneres was asked if she continued to “dance” during tough times. “No … It’s hard to dance when you’re crying,” she responded, noting that she “had a hard time” and “didn’t get out” during the scandal.

DeGeneres described this period as “laying low” and becoming “persona non grata” for the second time in her career – the first being in 1997, when she publicly came out as gay. She said she had come to terms with what happened and was “dancing now”.

“I’m making jokes about what happened to me, but it was devastating, really,” she said. “It took a long time for me to want to do anything again.”

She also noted that she “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.”

The final question of the night came from a woman who asked: “Do you think you’ll seek revenge for those who have wronged you?” To cheers from the roughly 200 people in the audience, DeGeneres responded: “I don’t know who wronged me. I don’t even know who these people are, so I can’t seek revenge, but I really don’t hold on to stuff. It’s just not who I am.”

Since the end of her show, DeGeneres has mostly stayed out of the public eye, with the exception of her 2023 Discovery Channel documentary Saving the Gorillas: Ellen’s Next Adventure and some social media activity. Ellen’s Last Stand … Up Tour is her first major return to the comedy scene. The tour will pass through San Diego, Washington, Oregon and the Bay Area before culminating in a new special for Netflix, to be taped this fall.