In an interview with NBC's Savannah Guthrie yesterday, Ellen Degeneres was asked if she felt like she was being "canceled" and she said: "I really didn't understand it. I still do
Ellen talked about the negative comments on social media and in the press and suggested she was a victim: "People get picked on, but for four months straight for me. All I've ever heard from every guest that comes on the show is what a happy atmosphere this is and what a happy place this is. I am a kind person ... who likes to make people happy. I had no idea, never saw anything that would even point to a toxic environment. I have to say if nobody else is saying it, it was really interesting because I'm a woman, and it did feel very misogynistic.”
DeGeneres said she was blindsided when she first heard about the toxic workplace allegations in the media: "I don't know how I could have known when there's 255 employees here and there are a lot of different buildings, unless I literally stay here until the last person goes home at night.”
She said she didn’t interact with workers very much and her producers kept her shielded.
Ellen said the controversy over the workplace culture did not drive her decision to end the show. She said, "If it was why I was quitting, I would have not come back this year.” She called the show the greatest experience of her life and said she agonized over how to tell her staff and crew it would be coming to an end next year: "I haven't been sleeping. I’ve been trying to, you know, anticipate how to tell them and, you know, hope that everybody would take it OK."
Ellen said she has no intention of retiring, but "If I never do another thing in my life, this has been the thing I'm most proud of — to do something for 19 years, especially something that nobody thought would happen.”