Ellen DeGeneres ' eponymous talk show will air its final season in 2022, per The Hollywood Reporter.- "As great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it's just not a challenge anymore," she said.
- DeGeneres will further discuss the news with Oprah Winfrey on the May 13 episode of her show.
Ellen DeGeneres has announced plans to end her eponymous talk show after its 19th season airs in 2022, according to a report published by The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday.
The comedian and talk-show host, 63, informed her staff of the news on May 11 and will further discuss the decision with Oprah Winfrey on the May 13 episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," the outlet reported.
"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 told The Hollywood Reporter.
A representative for DeGeneres confirmed to Insider that "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" will end after its 19th season.
DeGeneres' announcement comes after months of increasing backlash against the talk-show host - who's been accused of being rude, entitled, and unpleasant towards people she worked with - and the working culture on the talk show, which has been described by some ex-staffers as "toxic."
In February 2020, Dutch beauty YouTuber Nikkie de Jager (also known as NikkieTutorials), was one of the first people to call out DeGeneres, saying on a talk show in her home country that the beloved host was "cold and distant" during de Jager's appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
In April 2020, a Twitter thread asking for stories about DeGeneres being "one of the meanest people alive" was widely shared, garnering more than 2,000 replies of people describing uncomfortable or off-putting experiences with the host.
Later that month, news broke that DeGeneres' crew was "furious" about a lack of communication over their pay during the coronavirus shutdown. Variety cited two anonymous sources as saying that the long-running talk show's core stage crew - which consists of more than 30 employees - had not received any communication about the status of their working hours or pay and that producers had not checked in about their mental and physical health.
In late July 2020, Variety reported that WarnerMedia, the distributor of 'The Ellen Show,' was launching an internal investigation into the show's workplace culture.
Shortly thereafter, an Australian radio host said he was instructed not to look at or talk to DeGeneres when working with her in 2013 - echoing a former bodyguard for the host who said in April 2020 that his experience working with DeGeneres at the 2014 Oscars was "kind of demeaning."
Plenty of former "Ellen" employees also spoke out about their time on the show. In August 2020, ex-producer Hedda Muskat told The Wrap about an incident during a staff meeting in 2003 where a new-at-the-time producer screamed an employee - much to the amusement of DeGeneres, whom Muskat called "toxic."
Also in August 2020, a former DJ for "The Ellen Show" Tony Okungbowa shared a statement about his experience on set, telling Instagram followers that he "did experience and feel the toxicity of the environment."