Why Ellen DeGeneres says she's finished with showbiz after her tour and Netflix special

Ellen DeGeneres says she’ll be done with show business after her current stand-up tour and upcoming Netflix special, and she says she was never mean to anyone despite the reports that came out in 2020 alleging a toxic environment on her long-running talk show.

DeGeneres made the statements during an appearance in Santa Rosa, Calif., last week, SF Gate reports. The show was part of her Ellen’s Last Stand…Up tour.

“Will we see you on Broadway or movies?” one fan asked.

“Um, no,” DeGeneres responded. “This is the last time you’re going to see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done.”

After another fan urged her to do another Pixar film as the forgetful fish Dory, she said, “No, I’m going bye-bye, remember.”

Addressing the reports of a toxic environment on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she said, “I can be demanding and impatient and tough. I am a strong woman.”

She joked, as she has previously on the tour, that she was once kicked out of show business for being a lesbian (she came out in 1997), and more recently she was kicked out for being mean. “Next time, I’ll be kicked out for being old. Old, gay, and mean, the triple crown,” she said.

She has apologized for some of the behavior by her staff and herself, including reports of favoritism, bigoted comments, and more. “She admitted to being harsh and said she was a very immature boss,” SF Gate notes.

But DeGeneres said she is not actually mean. “I am many things, but I am not mean,” she said at the Santa Rosa show, claiming that meanness would be hurting someone intentionally.

She is doing the tour, mostly of small and mid-size venues, ahead of the Netflix special. She can still bring the comedy, SF Gate reports: “She managed to make jokes about parallel parking funny. I laughed out loud at a bit about windshield wipers.”

Live Nation shows tour dates scheduled through mid-August.