Well, that’s one take on the situation…
In the trailer for what she’s calling her last comedy special, Ellen DeGeneres jokes that she was “kicked out of show business.”
The line gets huge laughs in the first footage of For Your Approval, which drops Sept. 24 on Netflix. DeGeneres is addressing the scandal-ridden end of her talk show, which saw the comedian dancing off to oblivion amid accusations of a toxic work environment, abusive behavior, and general meanness.
The shock of that controversy, of course, was that DeGeneres had built her lucrative empire on niceness.
After she was shunned from Hollywood for her trailblazing decision to publicly come out as gay—both in real life and as her character on her sitcom, Ellen—DeGeneres rebuilt her career with a breakout performance in Finding Nemo and a bright, sunny talk show. For 19 seasons, she ended each episode by telling her audience to “be kind” to each other. That DeGeneres apparently failed to follow her own advice became an explosive news story; few things are more damning in tabloid journalism than being exposed for hypocrisy.
DeGeneres tackles that in the trailer for the special as well.
“The ‘Be Kind’ girl wasn’t kind, that was the headline,” she says. “Here’s the problem: I’m a comedian who got a talk show and I ended the show every day by saying, ‘Be kind to one another.’ Had I ended the show by saying, ‘Go f— yourselves,’ people would have been pleasantly surprised to find out I’m kind.”
For Your Approval is the second special of DeGeneres’ two-part deal with Netflix, following 2018’s Relatable—which in turn was her first comedy special in 15 years. She’s touted it as her swan song from the mic, which Netflix confirms in its press materials.
“Ellen gets personal and reveals what she’s been doing since being ‘kicked out of show business,’” the logline reads. “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.”
Of course, “kicked out” is a matter of perspective. Already since the trailer dropped, there have been people posting on social media versions of the infamous “that’s not the truth, Ellen” featuring Dakota Johnson.
Is someone “kicked out” if it’s their own actions that led to the shift in public opinion? Are they “kicked out” if they made the decision to end their talk show on their own? Are they “kicked out” if they’ve recently been touring the country making millions on a stand-up tour, and about to premiere a splashy Netflix special?