Ellen DeGeneres says toxic workplace allegations 'felt personal' and 'too orchestrated'

Ellen DeGeneres has been omnipresent since she debuted The Ellen DeGeneres Show in September 2003, and the announcement that her eponymous daytime syndicated talk show will end next spring after 19 seasons has only made her more ubiquitous this week.

The 63-year-old comedienne and host gave a rare 28-minute sit-down interview to Samantha Guthrie for Today that aired Thursday morning. It wasn't all smiles and sunshine like Ellen usually is. 

Guthrie asked about last summer's onslaught of allegations against her and her show, which The Hollywood Reporter's Lacey Rose summed up when exclusively breaking the news Wednesday that Ellen will end after Season 19:

"On the heels of a series of personal swipes that DeGeneres says “destroyed” her, came a July BuzzFeed News exposé detailing allegations of a toxic workplace. The latter, which DeGeneres says she learned about through the press, prompted an internal investigation and the dismissal of key executives."

With Guthrie, DeGeneres did not hold back on how it all made her feel.

"It felt personal," the Emmy winner said, in part. "It felt like somebody really did not want the show to come back, and I thought, well, if I don't come back, they win. And I'm not gonna let them win."

Guthrie then more pointedly asked if DeGeneres felt she was "being canceled": "I mean, I really didn't understand it. I still don't understand it. Yeah, I thought something was going on—because it was too orchestrated. It was too coordinated. And you know, people get picked on, but for four months straight for me?"

When Guthrie pressed DeGeneres about claiming to know nothing about a poor working environment, DeGeneres pointed toward there being 255 employees and her delegating to others. "Unless I literally stayed here until the last person goes home at night and checked in with 255 people—but I do wish somebody would have come to me," she added.

DeGeneres first addressed the allegations in the monologue for her Season 18 premiere episode: