The hashtag #ReplaceEllen is trending amid rumors and reports that Ellen host Ellen DeGeneres could be losing her daytime talk show. In recent weeks, trouble has been increasingly dramatically behind the scenes at Ellen following claims from former employees that they had been mistreated by either DeGeneres or her staff. WarnerMedia has since launched an internal investigation into the claims with major changes promised with how Ellen is run, but rumors are still persisting that DeGeneres might pull the plug herself if the show isn’t outright cancelled entirely.
“The show is called Ellen, we need another Ellen so…” tweets one fan, including a photograph of The Umbrella Academy star Ellen Page. “#ReplaceEllen with Joan Callamezzo,” jokes another, referring to Mo Collins’ Parks and Recreation character. Another fan suggests bringing back Kris Jenner’s failed talk show, Kris, as “the world is going downhill anyway.” Some of the other many options to be suggested by Twitter users to replace DeGeneres include Keke Palmer, Space Ghost, Tiffany “New York” Pollard, Kate McKinnon, Dakota Johnson, Wanda Sykes, and even a “generally unproblematic golden mole.”
One widely-reported rumor suggests that The Late Late Show host James Corden is in consideration to take Ellen’s spot on daytime television. Reportedly, Corden is being looked at as “the long term successor” to DeGeneres, with insiders claiming that these kinds of discussions had already taken place before the recent reports of the Ellen controversy. If true, this wouldn’t necessarily be a big surprise, as Corden is known to go viral for his popular segments like “Carpool Karaoke” and “Drop the Mic.” Still, none of this has yet been officially confirmed to be happening.
Ellen became the subject of controversy in July when BuzzFeed News published words from former staffers regaling their negative experiences from working on the show. The complaints included accusations of favoritism and racism, among other major issues. Celebrities like Brad Garrett and Lea Thompson have gotten involved as well by alleging that these stories are true and not even anything new. The national attention led to an internal investigation to verify the claims, and the company has since stated that big changes are soon to come based on their findings. DeGeneres herself has also issued an apology letter to staffers to say she was “disappointed” to learn that her employees hadn’t been treated respectfully.
Time will tell if Ellen stays on television, or if the daytime talk show is replace like so many on Twitter seem to be hoping for. If you ask me, it seems more likely than not that the show will wind up getting flushed off the network. It’s really hard to picture most viewers reacting in the same positive manner when seeing DeGeneres dancing on stage, considering the unhappiness felt by those working for her for such a long time behind the scenes. In any case, if Ellen remains on the air, let’s hope the backstage changes make the environment a lot less toxic. Straight from Twitter, you can check out some of the fan suggestions to #ReplaceEllen in the tweets posted below.
