Ellen DeGeneres is saying “bye-bye” to show business, two years after the trailblazing comedian and host ended her daytime talk show after 19 seasons.
On July 1, the 66-year-old DeGeneres took the stage at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, Calif., as part of a three-night set for her Ellen’s Last Stand… Up comedy special. The special is intended to capture the comedian’s stand-up tour, which kicked off June 19 and will run through Aug. 17. However, DeGeneres announced onstage that she’s retiring from the industry altogether after the special airs on Netflix later this year.
“This is the last time you’re going to see me,” she said during an audience Q&A after the show, according to San Francisco’s SFGate. “After my Netflix special, I’m done.”
Days later, the comedian abruptly canceled four of her tour dates — in Dallas (July 10), San Francisco (July 21), Seattle (July 23) and Chicago (Aug. 11).
The events come four years after multiple reports detailed allegations of racism, sexual misconduct and intimidation behind the scenes of her talk show — and a viral thread on X that painted her as “one of the meanest people alive.” DeGeneres delivered several on-air apologies about the accusations in 2020, and three top producers were fired after WarnerMedia conducted an internal investigation. Her show ended two years later.
So, what’s happening with DeGeneres? Here’s everything that’s gone down since she announced her farewell tour on May 29.
July 3: Dates are canceled abruptly
According to Deadline, concert promoter Live Nation informed those who bought tickets for DeGeneres’s performances in Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle and Chicago that “the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event.”
Neither Live Nation nor DeGeneres gave a reason why they were canceled, but ticket holders will reportedly receive full refunds. The dates were also removed from her website.
Meanwhile, the host is continuing with her other scheduled stops, having recently shared a video on her Instagram Stories driving to the airport for her July 8 show in Denver. She also announced a ticket giveaway in the post.
July 1: DeGeneres says she’s ‘done’ with Hollywood
During her set in Santa Rosa, DeGeneres was asked if she’d be appearing in films or on Broadway in the near future.
“This is the last time you’re going to see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done,” she said during an audience Q&A, according to SFGate. When a fan followed up by asking if she plans to reprise her role as Dory in Disney and Pixar’s Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, she emphasized that decision.
“No, I’m going bye-bye, remember,” she retorted.
During her set, DeGeneres claimed she was “kicked out of show business for being mean” while opening up about how the 2020 accusations affected her life. “I used to say, ‘I don’t care what people say about me.’ Now I realize I said that during the height of my popularity,” she said.
She added, “I can be demanding and impatient and tough. I am a strong woman. I am many things, but I am not mean.”
The comedian later referenced when her hit sitcom, Ellen, ended one year after she came out as a lesbian in 1997, putting her career on hold until she premiered The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2003.
“For those of you keeping score, this is the second time I’ve been kicked out of show business,” she joked. “Next time, I’ll be kicked out for being old. Old, gay and mean, the triple crown.”
April 3: DeGeneres announces her comedy tour
After announcing the multi-city Ellen’s Last Stand… Up tour on April 3, DeGeneres later revealed it would be filmed as a Netflix special, her “last.” Then on May 29, she made it clear that it would also be her “final” comedy tour.
In doing so, she also hinted that no topic would be off the table in the special, including the 2020 accusations that led to her talk show ending in 2022.
“To answer the questions everyone is asking me — Yes, I’m going to talk about it,” she wrote on Instagram, adding, “Yes, this is my last special. Yes, Portia really is that pretty in real life.”
Soon after announcing the tour, DeGeneres opened up about her show’s cancellation during a comedy set in West Hollywood, Calif., on April 24, admitting that she “hated the way the show ended.”
“I love that show so much and I just hated that the last time people would see me is that way,” she said at the time, per Rolling Stone.
The incidents took “such a toll on my ego and my self-esteem,” she added. “It was so hurtful. I couldn’t gain perspective. I couldn’t do anything to make myself understand that it wasn’t personal. I just thought, ‘Well this is not the way I wanted to end my career, but this is the way it’s ending.’”
