Ellen DeGeneres says goodbye to two decades of television success under the shadow of suspicion

Coming out almost cost her her career in the late 1990s, when she was starring in a television series,

, in which her character came out as a lesbian.

Ellen DeGeneres, the person, did it soon after in

magazine , which led ABC to move up the end of the series, in addition to including in the titles a parental warning about the presence of a homosexual character.

In the desert trek that followed the confession, she voiced

in the animated film

while battling depression.

But in 2003 she reinvented herself with an all-star morning talk show, with lots of fun, some music and prize money.

Ellen DeGeneres (Metairie, Louisiana, 64 years old) has said goodbye this Thursday to the audience -mostly female- with whom for 19 seasons she has shared dances, geeks and intimacies of celebrities as enthusiastic as her.

Actress Jennifer Aniston, the guest of the first program at the height of

, closed the cycle this Thursday, in a chapter recorded weeks ago whose content was protected as a state secret: not even the program's YouTube channel, which the latter days has published the stellar moments of it, released details of the final content.

With a background chroma key of a landscape of palm trees, which seemed to invite a golden retirement, DeGeneres hugged Aniston like a limpet, despite the rampant wave of the omicron subvariant throughout the country.

He also duly swaddled Billie Eilish and Pink, the other two stars who last set foot on the Warner Studios set in Burbank, California.

The presenter was excited and exultant, with that ex officio enthusiasm that so well defines the entertainment world in the United States. And in her line, she sang a song of compassion that seems, veiled, a mea culpa deferred by the scandal over the toxicity of the existing work environment in the program that was uncovered in 2020.

My first guest and my last❤️ #JenniferAniston pic.twitter.com/ux046U3ZOH

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) May 26, 2022

With the proper dose of syrup, DeGeneres, a

black suit and white sneakers, walked the hall of applause from her collaborators on Thursday.

It was the end point to a journey of 3,200 episodes, since September 2003, with 30 personal Emmy awards plus many others awarded to the program, of the 160 nominations received.

With the aforementioned blur as a corollary: the complaints about an atmosphere of intimidation and racism, and several alleged cases of sexual harassment of superiors.

Not even his sympathy prevented the sinking of the program, although no one responsible for it has admitted that these complaints -investigated by third parties- were the beginning of the end.

Neither does she.

The time elapsed since the first episode plans these days on the memories of the actress and presenter, as she told her 77.5 million followers on the social network Twitter: “When we started this program in 2003, the iPhone did not exist.

Social networks did not exist.

Gay marriage was not legal.

We have seen how the world changed, sometimes for the better, sometimes not.

But no matter what, my goal was always for the show to be a place where we could all meet and laugh for an hour.”

She also tweeted to her followers: "Being invited into your lives has been the greatest privilege of my life and has brought me incredible joy."

A pertinent question might be whether such good vibes can be sustained for two decades.

The very motto of the program,

(be kind), ordered it that way, in theory.

But in 2020, as a result of confinement due to the pandemic, the discomfort of many workers emerged amid laughter, also upset when they learned that to make the canned program,

to the DeGeneres mansion in Montecito (California), Warner had hired an external team, bypassing all contractual regulations.

Allegations of bullying and racism, including retaliation against employees for taking medical leave or attending a funeral, led Warner Bros. to fire three producers of the show, as firewalls to DeGeneres, whose haughtiness also came to light in some testimonies.

But the damage was done and, in addition to its fame, the audience ratings immediately plummeted (it lost a million viewers after the scandal was uncovered).

It also didn't help his reputation much to complain openly on Twitter about the "hell" that confinement entailed, while posting a video of the vast garden and pool of his mansion, where he has a good collection of contemporary art with the occasional Basquiat.

DeGeneres herself, however, had anticipated in 2018 that she was tired of the routine of a daily program.

Her wife, actress Portia de Rossi, was pushing her to leave, she told

later that year, while her brother encouraged her to stay in the spotlight.

The need for change has abounded again recently, telling

: "When you're a creative person, you constantly need a challenge, and as good and as fun as this show is, it's not a challenge anymore."

“The truth is that I always trust my instincts.

My gut told me it was time,” she added.

The fact of being the second highest paid presenter on American television (87.5 million dollars in 2018, according to

magazine ), only behind her friend Oprah Winfrey, allows her to take her professional future in stride.

"If anyone knows what it's like to finish a veteran

, that's Oprah," reads the title of the video in which Winfrey, on the verge of tears, dedicates the most heartfelt farewell to her friend and her rival at the same time .

She also said goodbye to a program made in her image and likeness after 25 years on the air.

Even critics of the DeGeneres show acknowledge its merits.

But the criticism began to crack the character, revealing the person, a polyhedral figure: an icon of the LGTB community -although not too much of an activist, according to his critics-, communicator, comedian, actress, a money-making machine.

She is also a Democrat -although with close friends such as former President George Bush-, and in short, a mature white woman who defies the codes of age in a world surrendered to transience like the one on TV.

A textbook example of female empowerment… a wealthy and influential woman to the full extent of her;

charismatic

So much so that in 2016 she received the Medal of Freedom, the highest civil distinction in the country, from President Barack Obama.

“Twenty years ago, when we were trying to sell the show, no one thought this would work.

Not because it was a different show, but because I was different," DeGeneres said Thursday of the networks' initial rejection of the pilot.

Her difference, the identity discourse that has become central to American public opinion, has marked her for better and for worse.

Despite the fact that at the start of the 18th season she recognized the discomfort in the squad, this champion of sure causes has not managed to overcome the flight of suspicion.

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