Ellen DeGeneres' show ending over misconduct scandal, industry experts allege: 'Audiences crave authenticity'

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Ellen DeGeneres announced on Wednesday she's ending her long-running namesake daytime talk show. 

"The Ellen DeGeneres Show" will conclude with its upcoming 19th season in 2022.

"When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore," DeGeneres told The Hollywood Reporter.

The decision comes after the talk show's ratings have dropped dramatically in viewership following the star's toxic workplace scandal that dominated headlines last year. 

Per Nielsen's ratings in March, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" lost over 1 million viewers over the course of the show’s current 18th season.

ELLEN DEGENERES ENDING TALK SHOW IN 2022 AFTER YEAR OF BRUTAL HEADLINES

Meanwhile, DeGeneres, 63, told THR that the decision to end the show didn't stem from the internal investigation that took place. "It’s not why I’m stopping," she said. "It almost impacted the show. It was very hurtful to me. I mean, very. But if I was quitting the show because of that, I wouldn’t have come back this season."

Eric Schiffer, an author and leading expert in media and branding who hasn't worked with DeGeneres, told Fox News he believes the end started for the comedian when the allegations surfaced last summer. 

Ellen DeGeneres speaking with actor Rob Lowe on her talk show 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show.' (Getty)

"This is an example that proves audiences crave authenticity in their hosts. If they find out celebrities are fake, the celebrity faces catastrophe," he reasoned.

Schiffer added that he believes Warner Bros., the studio that produces "Ellen," might have called the shots. "Warner Bros. measures its success is based upon ratings and now it has to deal with the reality of a show that is suffering," he said.

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But he added, "the public hasn't seen the end of Ellen. I think she'll continue to find ways, either as a producer or other ways within entertainment, to have a voice."

Belva Anakwenze, principal of a Los Angeles-based management firm, echoed Schiffer's sentiment.

"The ending of this show was inevitable.  The toxic company culture, coupled with increased production protocols and costs, created the perfect storm for this completely disjointed show," she told Fox News.

In August 2020, the 'Ellen' show went through an internal investigation by Warner Bros. after staffers made toxic workplace environment and misconduct accusations.  (Randy Holmes/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images)

"The toll of the pandemic and a lackluster viewership weighed on production," she observed. 

Angela Reddock-Wright, an employment attorney and mediator in Los Angeles, agreed that the show's end is in direct response to the toxic workplace claims. 

She told Fox News: "When stories surfaced that Ellen’s show wasn’t all fun-and-games backstage, it was the beginning of the end. She didn’t want to walk away on such a down note so she stuck around and tried to make things better for her employees. Ultimately, with declining ratings, this is probably a good time to walk away."

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Reddock-Wright hopes that other Hollywood producers and talent learn from the scandal by "creating great workplaces" and having a "zero tolerance for these issues."

After the internal investigation completed in August 2020, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. confirmed to Fox News that executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman "parted ways with" the show.