Ellen DeGeneres’ ‘Last’ Comedy Special Sets Netflix Release, Promises to Address Tarnished Public Image
Ellen DeGeneres‘ Netflix special about her alleged showbiz exile will hit Netflix later this year.
Per our sister site Variety, the hour-long stand-up comedy special will be the comedian’s last.
“To answer the questions everyone is asking me,” DeGeneres said via statement, “Yes, I’m going to talk about it. Yes this is my last special. Yes, Portia really is that pretty in real life.”
DeGeneres kicked off Ellen’s Last Stand… Up Tour in April by acknowledging that her public image had been tarnished following a bombshell 2020 report involving widespread accusations of a toxic workplace at The Ellen DeGeneres Show (which ended the following season).
“I used to say that I didn’t care what other people thought of me and I realized… I said that at the height of my popularity,” the comedian told a sold-out crowd at Largo in West Hollywood, our sister site Rolling Stone reported at the time. “It is such a waste of time to worry about what other people think… Right now I’m hoping you’re thinking, ‘This is marvelous, I’m so happy to be here.’ But you could be thinking, ‘Let’s see how this goes.'”
What followed was a mock-reflection of her recent past. “Oh yeah, I got kicked out of show business,” she said. “There’s no mean people in show business.
“The ‘be kind’ girl wasn’t kind,” she 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 f–k yourself,’ people would’ve been pleasantly surprised.”
DeGeneres admitted that she “didn’t know how to be a boss,” but suggested that much of the contempt she faced was rooted in sexism. She then harkened back to the cancellation of her 1990s sitcom — on which she came out as gay on national television (by way of her fictional character) — by adding, “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.”
But as DeGeneres reportedly told the audience, her 2024 stand-up tour would culminate in a new Netflix stand-up special, to be filmed this fall. TVLine has reached out to Netflix for comment.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show ended its 19-season run in 2022. DeGeneres previously acknowledged the scandal during the show’s Season 18 premiere, but told our sister pub The Hollywood Reporter that the controversy (and the subsequent hit in ratings) were not the reasons behind her pulling the plug.
“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,” she said in May 2021. She later addressed her daytime retirement on the show, adding: “You may wonder why I’ve decided to end after 19 seasons. The truth is, I always trust my instincts. My instinct told me it’s time.”
smh…. you did it to yourself. Stop playing the victim, Karen!
You’re in charge for almost two decades, but “you don’t how to be a boss.” Ridiculous. This time, she deserved to be kicked out.
Not surprised. This is coming from someone who thought she was in prison in her massive mansion during lockdown. Poor li’l nice Ellen. Girl needs a reality check.
I beg to differ with why her television show was cancelled after Ellen came out publicly. I was watching at the time and I thought it just stopped being funny. I didn’t care if she was gay or not but I did care that the program stopped making me laugh. Poor programs often get cancelled and they should.
I’d concur, the loss of Ayre Gross and the addition of Jeremy Piven, to me at least, was the “let’s add Oliver to the Brady Bunch” jump the shark moment. The guy wasn’t funny then and I still don’t find him funny. I thought the Ellen and Adam characters mixed well (throwing in Paige an Audrey to the mix as well).
Very astute and kudos for the Cousin Oliver citing. Her sitcom was a bit ahead of its time. or rather American subculture still had a stick up their asses on masse. A show that I liked was Heather Locklear in ABC’s failed 1991 TGIF sitcom Going Places, which was like a precursor to Friends. Elllen — the sitcom — wasn’t quite “it”.
100% and it’s annoying she’s too blind to see it. The show was going downhill before she even came out and they replaced her original friends with a brand new set. The lead up to her coming out breathed new life into the show but after that it was straight downhill again. The focus after that was on her being gay rather than being funny. For a sitcom being funny should always be number 1.
No, her show was canceled because of her sexual orientation. ABC received bomb threats from homophobes if they didn’t cancel it. You should watch the documentaries on Ellen. It’s pathetic how she was treated just for being a lesbian. These pathetic homophobes didn’t care who they hurt or killed as long as they got what they wanted.
Plus, that show hit at a dicey time. Fragmentation was starting, with cable providing more options to viewers. But shows were being judged on what were good numbers BEFORE fragmentation.
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It is like with Firefly. Fox thought the numbers were bad. within 2-3 years, Fox would’ve killed to add 3+ shows with Firefly’s numbers. But Fox, at the time, didn’t know that Firefly was the new normal.
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But, yeah, Ellen wasn’t funny towards the end.
The issue is you can’t just laugh it off and say you’re not a good boss or don’t know how to manage. And hey, that’s ok to admit but what’s lacking in her new stand up show as was the case in 2020/2021, she refuses to take responsibility for her nastiness that was an open secret in Hollywood. I wish she would come out of this saying, I wasn’t the person I wanted to be with my own staff, I take responsibility in my part with damaging so many members of my own team’s mental health & right to a sand work place. Also, admit you handed over too much responsibility to my heartless and mysognistic EPs (at least the few guilty of treating the staff like crap). Ellen, you will remain canceled in Hollywood until you decide to take responsibility for your own behavior. If all else fails, she still has more money than any of her staff or most Americans will ever see in their lifetime, so I don’t think we have to spend too much time feeling sorry for someone who allowed themselves to turn into a monster. Don’t try to win us back without doing some hard work on yourself & taking full responsibility for your ugly work place.
Well stated. Reading Ellen’s statements, I thought all of these same things. Especially the part about her not taking responsibility for her behavior.
Ellen is delusional. How are you cancelled if you are doing a national tour and a netflix special? She wasn’t just mean she was toxic and cruel to her employees. That is who she is……it is not being a “bad boss”. She is a horrible person.
She could do anything she wants. I’m tired of her pity party. Won’t be watching this on Netflix.
She’s the victim and it was sexim? WHAT!? Man, she hasn’t changed at all.
Her 90s show wasn’t funny before she came out and it wasn’t funny after she came out. The 4th season when she came out at the end was ranked 30th out of all shows on then. The 5th season, when she was canceled the show was ranked 42nd.
She didn’t get kicked out of show business, her comedy television show was just not funny.
I definitely found it funny up through the coming out episode. After that, it was like the funny vanished. Not only that, but it seemed like every storyline was about her being gay, instead of being a funny comedy with a lead character that happened to be gay.
That didn’t sound like much of an apology.
Oh wait, it wasn’t!
Yeah, hard pass on this standup special.
She lost me when she, on behalf of all gays, forgave Kevin Hart for being an a******. She seems delusional and power hungry.
Some people are truly allergic to accountability. Ellen created a toxic work place and got called out for it. She wasn’t kicked out, she was held into account.
Ellen – you had a good run and made millions. Stop whining.
YUK…that’s a pass for me. She had her 15 minutes and then some. Now, stop whining and playing the victim and just stay away!
Good riddance. Should have hardened years ago>
Maybe we’re losing something in reading it rather than hearing her delivery, but none of those “jokes” were even a little bit funny.
Yes, let’s hear her complain about sexism & whatever else as she counts all of her millions of dollars. Poor thing!
So, you’ve been kicked out of showbiz but can do a Netflix special and complain about it to a sold-out venue? OK. I wish I was kicked out of showbiz, too.
Ugh…poor me. I used to like her, but now she is just a bully and a whiner. Take some responsibility for your own behavior.
Netflix giving a platform to toxic people is part of the reason I just canceled them this month and it’s the first time since 1999 I’ve not used them. Stop giving money to bad people and lower costs and subscription costs or do it with ads and free. Simple. She needs to go enjoy her life as she is done. Move on. No one wants to hear about you or from you ever again!
So she found a new synonym for karma or a simplistic way of saying “what goes around comes around”.
Yes Wesley, I agree. Cindy.
Americans and cancel culture lol a mass of people will swarm a lone celeb with hate who means nothing, go after all the bad bosses in the real world who affect the regular folk, boycott stores that are known for bad work culture and being anti union, hell demand free healthcare (it’s about time). With all that energy put into hating on a celeb or a famous rich person for saying an inappropriate word or whatever trivial bs gather together to make changes that truly benefit everyone in the country.
For 19 years she was a real boss, in the real world, abusing real employees and denying them healthcare during COVID.
Hollywood employees, what about all the ‘essential’ workers in the average person’s neighborhood that worked at stores like Target/Walmart, supermarkets, hospitals, etc during covid??
What about them? If their bossed let them go and cut off their health insurance while personally being worth hundreds of millions, they are terrible people too. If they sistematically abuse their staff, they are horrible bosses too? If you are an assistant, a carpenter, a caterer, driver, an electritian, a make-up artist, a secretary, etc, working for Ellen, do you deserve less respect for working in Hollywood?
Toxic workplace; a place where employees actually had to work and accept criticism if their jobs weren’t being done correctly. Work is work and those employees actually had cushy jobs compared to some people working. Sexual harassment in the workplace is not at all acceptable but why do some people think the workplace is like playing in the sand box? Such babies!! And all the jealous comments because Ellen has worked and made significant money? I’m shaking my head over all that!
It seems yours is the jelous comment, calling these cushy jobs and the workers babies who deserved abuse.
Get over yourself Ellen – you were not canceled the first time because you were gay but because your obsessive focus on it turned a funny show into a preach-a-thon. Second time, yeah – you are toxic and it is not that you did not know how to be a boss, you regularly bullied your guests. Stop playing victim, you are not one now and you were not one then
“I was kicked out of show business and I will explain everything in my Netflix special….”
Just wow!