Culture

The ‘Ellen’ Show Is Finally Coming To End Next Year, So Everyone Say Thank You To Dakota Johnson

"The moral of this story is if Dakota Johnson invites you to her birthday party you need to be truthful about that."

by Michelle Rennex  13 May 2021
Ellen degeneres ending dakota johnson

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Guys, Dakota Johnson did it. The Ellen show is actually ending in 2022.

Following toxic workplace allegations and problematic interviews resurfacing, Ellen DeGeneres announced that she was calling it quits on her once beloved daytime talkshow. After 19 seasons on air, DeGeneres explained that she chose to end the show as it was “just not a challenge anymore” for her.

“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 earlier today.

During the interview, DeGeneres also shared that she had actually been thinking about the move for years, which was why she only signed on for a three-season contract back in 2018. However, DeGeneres did also recognise that all the drama surrounding her and her workplace conditions “destroyed” her and “almost impacted the show”.

The downfall of Ellen DeGeneres begun in December 2019 when Dakota Johnson shut down DeGeneres on her own show. The awkward, tense energy between the pair over a birthday party invite resulted in people digging into DeGeneres’ private life and relationship with George W. Bush.

But the interview also made people wary of Ellen DeGeneres’ questionable and confrontational style of interviewing that was opposite to the sweet and kind brand the talk show host built over the years.

Hot off the heels of the world beginning to question just how “kind” Ellen Degeneres actually was, BuzzFeed News then published an explosive exposé on the alleged “toxic work culture” on the Ellen show.

Speaking to a number of anonymous former employees, some sources claimed that they were fired for taking medical and bereavement leave, while others noted that constant comments about their race was too much to bear.

While the blame for the day-to-day issues was placed mostly on the executive producers and senior managers on the show, the former employees noted that DeGeneres should’ve been more across the issues when her name is on the show.

“That ‘be kind’ bullshit only happens when the cameras are on. It’s all for show,” one source told BuzzFeed. “If she wants to have her own show and have her name on the show title, she needs to be more involved to see what’s going on.”

After the article was published, The Ellen DeGeneres Show underwent internal review in hopes of fixing the issues of bullying and racism that were raised. Three executive producers were fired as a result, and DeGeneres addressed the issues head-on in her Season 18 opening monologue.

But the damage had been done. Following the toxic workplace allegations, ratings for the show plummeted by a whopping 43 percent with a loss of 1.1 million viewers and never bounced back. And despite DeGeneres claiming that the Ellen show ended because it wasn’t challenging enough for her anymore, it’s hard to ignore the part that the allegations and serious ratings drop played in ending the program.

So, to celebrate the news of Ellen ending, people couldn’t help but use the momentous occasion to thank Dakota Johnson for basically putting this whole thing in motion with her birthday party.

Let this serve as a warning to any other talk show hosts who are thinking about rejecting a Dakota Johnson party invite in the future.