'Ellen' Announces Plans for Final Season's Home Stretch

"Ellen" is winding up to wind down, announcing plans to go out with a bevy of celebrity "special guests" in its final episodes, People Magazine reported.

On March 16 "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" announced the date of its final episode will be May 26, People detailed. As the talk show speeds toward its conclusion, a "lineup of special guests will pay tribute to the trailblazing host and share their favorite memories from DeGeneres' 19 iconic seasons," a statement released by the show's producers promised.

"Throughout the years, Ellen DeGeneres, 64, has hosted over 4,000 guests on the show and distributed nearly half a billion dollars in giveaways, according to the show," People noted, adding that the long-running program has "aired more than 3,200 episodes and earned 64 Daytime Emmy Awards."

As Ellen's show counts down its remaining installments, "Special guests include former First Lady Michelle Obama, Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum, Serena Williams, Zac Efron, Adam Levine, Behati Prinsloo, Gwen Stefani, David Letterman, Diane Keaton, Kim Kardashian and Portia de Rossi," People said.

Word began to circulate that the show would end when, in 2020, Ellen became embroiled in claims of a "toxic workplace" rife with "misconduct and sexual misconduct," with employees saying they had endured racial comments, been fired for taking days off for bereavement or medical reasons, and been told not to address DeGeneres.

The show jettisoned three of its producers, including Ed Gavin, whom one former show employee, Hedda Muskat, alleged acted as Ellen's "attack dog."

Former employees began referring to Ellen as a "talk show Karen" and the "Queen of Mean."

The show's ratings tanked, and rumors that it would soon go off the air swirled. But when Ellen announced last year that the show would end in 2022, she told a different story.

"I was going to stop after season 16," the 64-year-old comedian told The Hollywood Reporter. "That was going to be my last season, and they wanted to sign for four more years," but, DeGeneres said, she talked them down to "three more years, and I knew that would be my last. That's been the plan all along."

Defying the "Queen of Mean" trope are reports of Ellen's generosity as the show nears its end, shelling out a huge fortune in bonuses to those who work on the program.

According to the New York Post, Ellen "is handing out 'millions of dollars' in bonuses to her staffers," with a source insisting that the giveaway is emblematic of the out host's characteristic generosity.

The Post's source said that Ellen "'has been incredibly generous' to employees since the show began back in 2003."

Toward the start of the season, last September, a source also told the media about Ellen's largesse to the show's staff, saying the host "gave gifts to everyone including trips, watches, cars."

"It was not even a question for Ellen to cover bonuses," the Post's source told the news outlet. "That was very important to her."

And, for someone who supposedly oversaw a toxic workplace, Ellen's staff have been loyal about sticking with her in turn, according to the Post. "Around 30 percent of show employees have worked there for over a decade," the Post said.