Ellen DeGeneres aired the final episode of her long-running daytime talk show on Thursday after 19 seasons, focusing her monologue on attitude changes toward the LGBT community since the show began in 2003.
“Twenty years ago when we were trying to sell the show, no one thought that this would work,” DeGeneres said. “Not because it was a different kind of show, but because I was different.”
“Very few stations wanted to buy the show, and here we are 20 years later celebrating this amazing journey together,” she added.
DeGeneres had made history on her 1990s sitcom as the country’s first openly gay lead character. She later moved to a sitcom on CBS in 2001 before “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” launched in 2003.
“When we started the show, I couldn’t say ‘gay’ on the show,” she said.
DeGeneres announced the show’s final season last May, saying she needed “something new”.
Ratings for DeGeneres’s show had taken a tumble leading up to the announcement, following allegations of a toxic workplace. The comedian apologized during a 2020 episode after the allegations surfaced, saying her show was embarking on a “new chapter.”
DeGeneres has said the show’s conclusion aligns with plans she made when signing her last contract in 2019.
With more than 3,000 episodes, the Emmy Award winner was known for her celebrity interviews, “Be Kind” mantra and sometimes-wacky games and sketches on her afternoon show. She concluded Thursday’s monologue by dancing to “Best of My Love” with the studio audience and Stephen “tWitch” Boss, DeGeneres’ sidekick who was named a co-executive producer in 2020.
“If this show has made you smile, if it has lifted you up when you’re in a period of some type of pain, some type of sadness, anything that you’re going through, then I have done my job,” she said.
DeGeneres had increasingly weighed in on politics on her show when former President Trump was in office, saying in 2017 that she had banned him from appearing.
Thursday’s final episode included interviews with Jennifer Aniston
— who joined the show during its first episode – and musician Billie Eilish. P!nk also took the stage to perform “What About Us.”
