(PresidentialHill.com)- After 19 years on the air, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” aired its final episode on Thursday, with an emotional farewell from the namesake host.
The program was canceled, at least partly due to backlash over reports of a hazardous and hostile workplace. DeGeneres has denied any knowledge of the allegations, and the drama was set aside for the 64-year-old comic to reflect on nearly two decades of her talk show.
The show opened on Thursday with a video of Ellen making numerous entrances throughout the years. Finally, she really emerged and delivered a speech.
Ellen welcomed the audience to her final performance. She said that 19 years ago, she stepped on stage and said it was the beginning of a relationship, and this goodbye was more of a small break than the end of that relationship.
She joked that now the audience was free to “see” other talk shows, and she may run across some different audiences from time to time.
The comic said that no one thought this program would succeed twenty years ago when she attempted to sell it, not because it was a different sort of entertainment. It was because she was unique. Only a few stations were interested in buying the show, and now, 20 years later, everyone had enjoyed this incredible journey together.
She said that she couldn’t mention “gay” on the air when they started this program but used the word “gay” a lot at home.
She launched into a series of examples:
“Can you tell me what we’re having for our gay breakfast?’ “Pass the gay salt.” “Has anyone seen the homosexual remote?”
She explained, seemingly bitter that she couldn’t use the word since it meant that she was “with somebody.” It was impossible to say wife because it was illegal for homosexual people to marry, but now she refers to herself as a wife all the time.
She said that they canceled her sitcom twenty-five years ago because they didn’t want a lesbian in primetime once a week.
Her response was to say, “OK, I’ll be in the daytime every day, how about that?”
She closed her monologue by saying it’s been a “wonderful ride.”
“If this program has made you laugh, if it has raised you up while you’re in a moment of grief, despair, or whatever you’re going through, then I’ve done my job,” she said.
She claimed that she was able to improve people’s lives as a result of her platform, and the show has permanently altered her life.
She said it’s been the most incredible experience she’s ever had, well beyond her wildest dreams.”
