Ellen DeGeneres’ Netflix Comedy Special, About Getting ‘Kicked Out of Show Business,’ Unveils New Trailer
Ellen DeGeneres is ready to talk about her (alleged) showbiz exile in a stand-up special for the world’s largest streaming platform.
Netflix on Wednesday unveiled a trailer for Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval, which releases Tuesday, Sept. 24, and is being dubbed “the final comedy special of her historic career.” A first-look photo can be found below, and the trailer is embedded above.
“To answer the questions everyone is asking me — yes, I’m going to talk about it. Yes, this is my last special. Yes, Portia really is that pretty in real life,” DeGeneres said in a previous statement. Per the official logline, the comedian “gets personal” in For Your Approval, “and reveals what she’s been doing since being ‘kicked out of show business.’ From the mundane world of raising chickens and parallel parking to the harsh reality of becoming a brand name celebrity, she goes deep into her stand-up roots and brings the laughs through life’s most real and absurd realities.”
DeGeneres kicked off her Ellen’s Last Stand… Up Tour in April by acknowledging that her public image had been tarnished in 2020 following a bombshell report involving widespread accusations of a toxic workplace at The Ellen DeGeneres Show (which ended the following season).
“I used to say that I didn’t care what other people thought of me and I realized… I said that at the height of my popularity,” the comedian told a sold-out crowd at Largo in West Hollywood, our sister site Rolling Stone reported at the time. “It is such a waste of time to worry about what other people think… Right now I’m hoping you’re thinking, ‘This is marvelous, I’m so happy to be here.’ But you could be thinking, ‘Let’s see how this goes.'”
What followed was a mock-reflection of her recent past. “Oh yeah, I got kicked out of show business,” she said. “There’s no mean people in show business.
“The ‘be kind’ girl wasn’t kind,” she continued. “I became this one-dimensional character who gave stuff away and danced up steps. Do you know how hard it is to dance up steps? Would a mean person dance up steps? Had I ended my show by saying, ‘Go f—k yourself,’ people would’ve been pleasantly surprised.”
DeGeneres admitted that she “didn’t know how to be a boss,” but suggested that much of the contempt she faced was rooted in sexism. She then harkened back to the cancellation of her 1990s sitcom — on which she came out as gay on national television (by way of her fictional character) — by adding, “For those of you keeping score, this is the second time I’ve been kicked out of show business… Eventually they’re going to kick me out for a third time because I’m mean, old and gay.”
The Ellen DeGeneres Show ended its 19-season run in 2022. DeGeneres previously acknowledged the scandal during the show’s Season 18 premiere, but told our sister pub The Hollywood Reporter that the controversy (and the subsequent hit in ratings) were not the reasons behind her pulling the plug.
“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,” she said in May 2021. She later addressed her daytime retirement on the show, adding: “You may wonder why I’ve decided to end after 19 seasons. The truth is, I always trust my instincts. My instinct told me it’s time.”
Will you be checking out Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval when it drops on Netflix later this month? Let us know in Comments.
Having a national sold-out tour filmed and sold as a Netflix special for 8-figures isn’t exactly being “kicked out of show business”.
Ellen is out of touch with reality. I mean, the Poor little woman felt very trapped in her MASSIVE mansion. She really empathized and understood what a rough time everybody was going through at the time of COVID during lockdown.
Ellen DeGeneres was worst judge at the time on “American Idol.”
She hugged a semi-finalist to influence the viewer’s votes.
She criticized one of the worst “Idol” performances in the show’s history (Paige Miles) “At least, you didn’t fall down.”
So. Simon Cowell was really mean. You are probably too young to have seen him as judge on American Idol.
They were actually judges at the same time.
I’m so sorry that she acted like an absolutely beast to everyone around her and then had to suffer the consequences of that. Poor baby. So unfair.
OK, Boomer.
Just go away.
She seems to have developed quite the martyr complex. And also quite a vivid ability to blame everyone else for her troubles, which conveniently allows her to bypass any accountability for her own role in her troubles.
Get off the cross, henny. Someone needs the wood.
Listen to her speak.
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Literally research her previous interviews going back decades.
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She has had that martyr complex for a very long time.
Her retcon of her sitcom is also annoying. Her coming out didn’t kill the show. It was a bubble show from day 1, and it was never a hit. And her character was the worst part of the show.
This isn’t remotely true, Patrick. You can criticize her personality without lying about ratings from a show that aired 30 years ago and had a very real impact on pop culture, Ellen herself, and even Laura Dern.
Ellen was the #39 show in ratings before she came out. It rose to #30 the season she came out. It fell to #42 the season after. It’s not a lie that it was a bubble series.
The lie is that her coming out didn’t affect the show. That is what Patrick is saying she retconned. I’m aware of what the ratings were as I looked it up before I posted because I don’t say things on the internet just to get reactions. There is clear evidence that the show, and her career at the time, took a dive from her coming out. Even past ABC execs have spoken on this. Ellen is a bad person but again, there’s no need to lie about a show from 30 years ago.
The show was #39 the season before she came out. #42, the season after. Not that big of a drop. It just wasn’t a show that did that well.
I don’t know anything about how her coming out affected her career, so I can only speak about the show. I was enjoying it and I liked it that things had gotten to that point. Ellen had that low key, self-deprecating way of presenting herself, and seeing her character feel her way through a set of experiences she’d been resisting was bound to be fun and interesting. Too, as a straight man, I saw it as a chance to learn about a community I didn’t know firsthand.
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Unfortunately, they whizzed it all away. It started to feel written by committee. I could see how that might have happened. New ground was being broken, and the production probably got self-conscious about balancing everybody’s concerns about what needed to be represented. In any case, it felt rote and political when it should feel fresh and personal. Rather than opening up the story for everyone to relate to, it became exclusive, and began to rely on jargon.
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So I bailed out. It struck me as a huge missed opportunity.
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She had good ratings for 1 season
Season 1 wasn’t ranked
Season 2 was 13th
Season 3 was 39th
Season 4 was 30th
Season 5 was 42nd
The show started when there was just ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX. The WB & UPN came about midway through season 2.
So Ellen had 1 good ratings season and the rest were at the bottom.
Your timeline is slightly mixed up. Season 1 was 13th. WB and UPN never had shows in the top 50 so not sure why you even mentioned them.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_(TV_series)#Broadcast_history
Just to point out there were 2 additional networks after the show started. Cable shows were not a factor in the ratings at the time and streaming obviously didn’t exist.
You’re right, Patrick. “Ellen” was a tepid show at best. It had some low key charms but nothing that made it, to steal a phrase from NBC, “must see TV.” It was actually retooled a few times and changed names (from These Friends of Mine) and characters.
Ellen’s coming out had cultural importance, sure. But the show itself was never that strong. It wasn’t ever a monster hit. The coming out episode was really the only really funny and interesting thing about it.
(The CBS show she had with Cloris Leachman as her mom was MUCH funnier, imho. But it only lasted a season.)
True the build up to the coming out then the out midyear saved the show how they were able to milk that almost 2 yrs 3 if you include the final year where she was dating. Sadly abc just overhyped it and the show was very boring with Ellen fumbling thru g-rated lesbian dating episodes…leaving the rest of cast in c-plots didn’t help either
Just keep swimming
I thought she retired or vanished on Earth
Just keep swimming
I think I can say as someone who has had a toxic boss or even employee in the work place , it is just absolutely disgusting behavior. Never unintentional or something that flies over someone’s head like they don’t know what they are doing. They know and they don’t care. If anyone else has shared these kinds of experiences like with the crew of her show, then I’d imagine she is never going to be forgiven, especially with a non-apology like the one she seems to be giving now. So really , I think I speak for many of when I say good riddance and don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Yep, having a comedy special on Netflix sounds like you’re being deplatformed all right.
Yes I will watch Ellen on Netflix. I hated it when she quit. A whole lot of people in a whole lot higher places have done bad things a whole lot worse and are still doing them. It’s a disgrace how people are picking on her now. I hope she comes back on somewhere
Very few of the “worse” keep jobs once their behavior becomes known.
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With Ellen, it is the hypocrisy. She presented herself as this friendly, nice, GOOD PERSON. In reality she was exactly the opposite.
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Even some of the terrible execs in Hwood are open about their terribleness. They aren’t shy about loud criticisms or being a demanding jerk of a boss. They don’t pretend publicly to be nice, while being terrible behind closed doors.
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Ellen claims she’s being singled out for being mean. That isn’t what is happening. She’s being punished for being a hypocrite and lying about being one way, while secretly being another way. That is what is getting her in trouble.
Whataboutism helps no one.
I read elsewhere that the tour was shortened and then relabeled as her last due to lower than expected ticket sales. I believe all of her reasons/excuses for her alleged behavior. The problem is that she really sold the nice, loves to dance non-threatening lesbian persona so well that people don’t want to hear that she never really was that person 100% in real life. She hasn’t figured out how to show real empathy where people don’t give her the side eye. I’m not saying she doesn’t have it but people aren’t buying what she’s selling this time around. It could be sexism or many other unfair reasons but at least she’s smart enough to read the room now.
I will not be watching her whine, play the victim, and throw herself a pity party.
Look her up on Celebrity Net Worth. Hers is at 500 million with a ton of details of all the millions she makes doing very fast remodeling and renovations and flipping houses. She has a very nice life. Even if she didn’t have the scandal to end her show it probably would have ended by the end of Season 20 as it had run its course. Once I saw Netflix was throwing money at people who don’t need it I unsubscribed and haven’t looked back. I’m glad this is the end of all this and she should go enjoy her life as it’s got to be nice to have whatever you want.
Celebrity Networth is infamous in its unreliability. Even Wikipedia has banned it.
Today I saw Ellen’s commercial hawking her new Kind Science Cosmetics line. I kid you not. With poor Portia sitting glued to her side on a couch acting as her pitch wing woman (and looking totally morose while doing so.) It was a million times cheaper looking than any 3 AM commercial – except Ellen’s ad is airing during peak viewing time. To make matters worse both Ellen and Portia were dressed and styled like ragamuffins. This is another disastrous Ellen vanity project like her record label, pet food line, etc.
I used to like Ellen a lot! She changed! Now she’s playing the victim. Poor Ellen. NOT! She ruined her own career.
when my mom had cancer, we attended Ellen’s stand up tor God It’s Me and read her book. we laughed and cried. we also reflected on New Orleans where we had many memories in Ellen’s hometown. Ellen was a source of joy in our darkest hours because not only my mom had cancer, but my dad was unemployed, my sister hung herself, my brother was an addict, and I had a miscarriage. Ellen will always be a big sister to me who brings me joy and makes me smile through laughter in this world that is dark. Even after learning Ellen was gay, I still say she holds me up to laugh again. She also reminds me of my maternal grandma Mary Belchiek PIlot. Thank You Ellen for being my sun and I will watch you on NETFLIX anytime!
Ugh is she still on that old, my show got cancelled because I am gay thing? No, it was cancelled because everything about the show changed, the sets, the cast, the premise, everything that made the show fun. Whether gay or straight or anything in between, it should be one facet of who you are and not your whole personality.
If she was kicked out of show business why the hell won’t she just go away? This pity party of hers is just sad at this point.
You’d think she would have learned from the first time she was cancelled. IMO anyone who likes to scare people for a laugh has a mental problem. Just go away already.
Don’t go away mad…just go away. Some celebs just don’t get it!