Netflix on Tuesday announced that Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval will premiere Tuesday, Sept. 24. It is being dubbed “the final comedy special of her historic career.” A first-look photo can be found below.
“To answer the questions everyone is asking me — yes, I’m going to talk about it. Yes, this is my last special. Yes, Portia really is that pretty in real life,” DeGeneres said in a previous statement. Per the official logline, the comedian “gets personal” in For Your Approval , “and reveals what she’s been doing since being ‘kicked out of show business.’ 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.”
Wilson Webb/Netflix
DeGeneres kicked off her Ellen’s Last Stand… Up Tour in April by acknowledging that her public image had been tarnished in 2020 following a bombshell report involving widespread accusations of a toxic workplace at The Ellen DeGeneres Show (which ended the following season).
“I used to say that I didn’t care what other people thought of me and I realized… I said that at the height of my popularity,” the comedian told a sold-out crowd at Largo in West Hollywood, our sister site Rolling Stone reported at the time. “It is such a waste of time to worry about what other people think… Right now I’m hoping you’re thinking, ‘This is marvelous, I’m so happy to be here.’ But you could be thinking, ‘Let’s see how this goes.'”
What followed was a mock-reflection of her recent past. “Oh yeah, I got kicked out of show business,” she said. “There’s no mean people in show business.
“The ‘be kind’ girl wasn’t kind,” she continued. “I became this one-dimensional character who gave stuff away and danced up steps. Do you know how hard it is to dance up steps? Would a mean person dance up steps? Had I ended my show by saying, ‘Go f—k yourself,’ people would’ve been pleasantly surprised.”
DeGeneres admitted that she “didn’t know how to be a boss,” but suggested that much of the contempt she faced was rooted in sexism. She then harkened back to the cancellation of her 1990s sitcom — on which she came out as gay on national television (by way of her fictional character) — by adding, “For those of you keeping score, this is the second time I’ve been kicked out of show business… Eventually they’re going to kick me out for a third time because I’m mean, old and gay.”
The Ellen DeGeneres Show ended its 19-season run in 2022. DeGeneres previously acknowledged the scandal during the show’s Season 18 premiere, but told our sister pub The Hollywood Reporter that the controversy (and the subsequent hit in ratings) were not the reasons behind her pulling the plug.
“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,” she said in May 2021. She later addressed her daytime retirement on the show, adding: “You may wonder why I’ve decided to end after 19 seasons. The truth is, I always trust my instincts. My instinct told me it’s time.”
Will you be checking out Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval when it drops on Netflix later this month? Let us know in Comments.
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