Ellen DeGeneres told an audience on her ongoing standup tour that she's finished with fame after the final stops are filmed for a Netflix special.
SFGate reports that last week (July 1), the comedian took time onstage at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, CA, to get her audience up to speed on her life since her famous talk show was cancelled.
"Let me catch you up on what's been going on with me since you last saw me," she said. "I got chickens. Oh yeah, and I got kicked out of show business for being mean."
"Mean" wasn't the adjective being tossed about upon The Ellen DeGeneres Show going under investigation for workplace misconduct in 2020 — it was "toxic."
In the aftermath, the show's three top executive producers were fired, and DeGeneres addressed the controversy in a monologue opening her program's 18th season, saying, "I'm so sorry to the people that were affected. I know that I'm in a position of privilege and power and I realize that with that comes responsibility. I take responsibility for what happens at my show."
In 2021, The Ellen DeGeneres Show went on to lose a million viewers following the scandal, and it was later announced that the show would end after 19 seasons on the air.
In making that announcement, DeGeneres shared that the show was "just not a challenge anymore," but she painted a different version of events during her set, joking, "Next time, I'll be kicked out for being old. Old, gay and mean — the triple crown."
"I can be demanding and impatient and tough. I am a strong woman," she said. "I am many things, but I am not mean."
During a Q&A portion of the evening, one audience member asked DeGeneres if she would move to "Broadway or movies" now that she no longer has television commitments.
She reportedly answered, "Um, no. This is the last time you're going to see me. After my Netflix special, I'm done."
Another fan wondered if she'd reprise her role as Dory in a future Finding Nemo film, only for DeGeneres to answer, "No, I'm going bye-bye, remember?"
DeGeneres opened this month with the cancellation of four dates on her standup tour for reasons unknown. Though the trek runs through the middle of August, perhaps it's a sign she should expedite "going bye-bye" to relax atop her reported mountains of money and leave the rest of us be.