Will Ellen DeGeneres actually get “canceled” for being mean?

Cancel culture’s goals are sometimes hard to discern. While the goal is seemingly to prevent celebrities who have done horrible things from ever getting another job in Hollywood, this rarely seems to be what happens.

Generally, the internet hates their chosen target for a few months, and then within the year, the celebrity is announcing their next big project and the internet is thrilled. Sure, sometimes the celebrity loses a few opportunities in the short-term, but their long term prospects remain intact.

So, with Ellen DeGeneres coming up on nearly a year of continuously bad press, one question looms in our minds: Will she actually get canceled?

Allegations

The accusations regarding DeGeneres and her daytime talk show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, vary in severity. Some are simply bad fan encounters, others say DeGeneres once fired someone for looking her in the eye.

The allegations surrounding her show are far darker. These reports say executive producers on the show were racist, committed sexual misconduct, and played favorites by withholding promotions from people they didn’t like & giving sponsorship swag to those they did.

Ratings

The Ellen DeGeneres Show was holding its own for a while. While those who didn’t really care much about DeGeneres one way or the other, were busy tearing down the celebrity online, her fans kept tuning in to watch The Ellen DeGeneres Show’s latest episode every day.

However, there was a tipping point. Eventually, the avalanche of bad press became too much for everyone except for the most dedicated fans of DeGeneres. The show’s viewership began to plummet in May & June – it still hasn’t recovered, and continues to slide downward. Those who praised her as Ellen the Generous started to wonder if she really was mean.

Advertising

Ellen DeGeneres’s show used to boast some of the very best daytime TV ratings around, seemingly without even breaking a sweat. Occasionally Live with Kelly and Ryan would give The Ellen DeGeneres Show a run for its money viewership-wise. However, ad slots for DeGeneres’s show blew Kelly & Ryan out of the water. A 30-second slot during DeGeneres’s show could cost $51,570. Meanwhile, Live with Kelly and Ryan was approximately $18,704.

Other daytime numbers for 30-second ad slots included Dr. Phil at $34,819 and Judge Judy at $10,645. These comparisons prove DeGeneres practically owned daytime television – and she owned it for years.

Cancelation?

This begs the question then, will DeGeneres literally be canceled? It’s one thing for the internet to proliferate a hashtag like #DeGeneresIsOverParty with stories of how mean she is, but it’s entirely another for the network she’s been partnered with for almost two decades to cut her loose.

However, if she isn’t pulling them the same kind of ad revenue, both because of lost viewership and because of advertisers pulling back from being associated with her, then she could be in some seriously hot water.

Warner Brothers and DeGeneres are estimated to respectively make $35 million and $50 million dollars off the show annually. If The Ellen DeGeneres Show no long proves itself lucrative, despite having a contract through the year 2022, NBC might look for a way to pull the plug.

Leaving?

Rumors also started spreading that DeGeneres was considering stepping away from the show of her own accord, in order to try and salvage her image, since the most damning accusations are of the show’s toxic workplace. DeGeneres has always preached “be kind”, so to suddenly be referred to as the Queen of Mean isn’t exactly what she was going for.

This led to speculation on whether The Ellen DeGeneres Show would name a new host to finish off the last few years of the show, according to the 2022 contract.

While neither the network nor DeGeneres have spoken to the public about anyone ending the show or exiting (except for some EPs being fired), the show is currently on its summer break. This means there’s still time for a press release announcing the next season isn’t ever coming.