‘Ellen DeGeneres Show’ Ends After 19 Years: ‘When We Started This Show, I Couldn’t Say “Gay”’
Selome Hailu After 19 years in syndication, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” came to a close on Thursday with a look back, a victory lap and final guests including Jennifer Aniston, who also happened to be DeGeneres’ first all those years ago.It was announced in May 2021 that the series would end this year, coinciding with the end of DeGeneres’ contract — as well as a change in DeGeneres’ reputation due to reports of pay reduction, racism and intimidation towards crew members, though the contract was set in 2019.During the series finale, DeGeneres focused her opening monologue on how different the world is for LGBTQ+ people now than it was when the show began.“20 years ago, when we were trying to sell the show, no one thought that this would work. Not because it was a different kind of show, but because I was different,” she said.