Ellen Is Being Taken Over By Kelly Clarkson And TikTok Says It’s 9/11’s Fault

It’s official! On May 26th, NBCUniversal announced that Ellen’s coveted 3:00 pm time slot is being taken over by Kelly Clarkson and her extremely successful daytime television show by the fall of 2022.

Much like most events from 2020 and beyond, if you told someone living in 2019 that this would happen, chances are they would not believe you. Logically, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone paying attention to the daytime talk show scene. Clarkson’s show, launched in the fall of 2019, has been putting up good numbers since its inception. The premiere episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show debuted with a whopping 2.6 million viewers, it remains the best-rated premiere for a new first-run syndicated program since Katie Couric’s Katie in 2012.

Despite the demise of Ellen’s reputation this past year, the end of the show is still a shock. After all, Ellen has been the undisputed queen supreme of daytime for many years; arguably since Oprah went off the air in 2011. Through its 18 seasons, The Ellen DeGeneres Show has racked up over 60 Emmys, 24 People’s Choice Awards and 21.6 BILLION views on Youtube. So, yeah, she was kind of a big deal.

Ellen maintained in an interview with TODAY that the conclusion of the show was her choice, saying: “If It [the scandal] was why I was quitting, I would’ve not come back this year. Everything you’re talking about happened last summer” she further dismissed the notions that she had any role in the workplace toxicity “I am a kind person, I am a person who likes to make people happy.” The interview was met with skepticism as it seemed like too much of a coincidence that she would end her contract prematurely just because she was not feeling creatively challenged, as opposed to because of her massive drop in ratings and her now damaged public persona.

However, there are those on TikTok who believe this wasn’t a coincidence at all, but the result of one hell of a butterfly effect. (TLDR; explanatory TikTok at the bottom of the page)

*Clears throat* allow us to explain this series of wild and unfortunate events:

1. Gerard Way Witnesses 9/11 And Starts MCR

According to Gerard Way, the lead singer of the popular alternative rock band My Chemical Romance, he was travelling on a ferry along the Hudson River the morning of September 11 in 2001. When he spoke to Newsweek about the experience he said “I was surrounded by hundreds of people on a dock on the Hudson River, and we watched the buildings go down, and there was this wave of human anguish that I’ve never felt before.” In response to said anguish, Way formed MCR as a form of “therapy” to recover from national PTSD.

2. Stephenie Meyer Creates Twilight

Stephenie Meyers drew inspiration from a plethora of things when writing her Twilight bestsellers; everything from Anne of Green Gables to X-Men. One key inspiration she credits for her aesthetic and one of her main leads, Jacob Black, is My Chemical Romance. According to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, something about the band’s “raw, uncontrolled emotion” spoke to her, hence the existence of the moody, brooding male characters that made the franchise so popular.

3. E.L James Writes 50 Shades of Gray

Spawned from that popularity was the passionately written fanfiction “Master of the Universe”, a popular work from the user “Snowqueens Icedragon” released on FanFiction.net in August of 2009. “Gaby,” no one asked, “What does this have to do with Fifty Shades?” I am SO GLAD you asked. Master of the Universe IS Fifty Shades. That’s right, the best-selling book of the decade, outsold only by, perhaps, The Holy Bible, is FANFICTION. Smutty, sordid, BDSM, Bella and Edward, fanfiction. Fangirls rule the world and it’s not debatable, but I digress.

4. The Rise of Dakota Johnson (Dun-Dun-Dun)

After its immense literary success, Fifty Shades, like every other successful book of the 2010s, was adapted into a film franchise. This is where our good friend Dakota Johnson comes in as she takes the leading role of Virginal Nympho Anastasia Steele. This becomes her breakout role, exploding her career and eventually leading her to her role in Shia LaBeouf’s The Peanut Butter Falcon. When promoting this film, Dakota had a now-infamous conversation with Ellen on her show which you can watch here (TW: CRINGE).

Actually, no, that’s not the truth Ellen,” was heard around the world as fans, haters and celebrities who had guested on Ellen all came forward in support of Dakota, uncovering decades of questionable Ellen Interviews. Notably, this interview with Mariah Carey in which Ellen forces the legendary songstress to reveal her pregnancy on-air. The kicker? She miscarried shortly after and was now required to publicly address it.

5. Ellen’s Staff Speaks Out

Sensing blood in the water, Ellen’s staff began to feel more comfortable with publicly criticizing the show’s “toxic workplace” and indeed Ellen herself. Starting in March of 2020, in response to a popular tweet by Kevin T. Porter asking for insane Ellen stories, ex-staffers began to share their grievances. These were met with public support, despite the claims being unverified. By April, once Ellen had been conducting her show from home for a few weeks, her current staff spoke to Variety, alleging that they were being kept in the dark regarding the security of their positions on the show and that they were yet to be paid for the at-home productions. This led to public outrage as users across all social media platforms reached out to Warner Brothers, Ellen’s parent company, demanding a full-scale investigation into the earlier reported mistreatment, the job security and the payment. The campaign was successful and by July of 2020, Warner Brothers agreed to look into the issue.

6. Final Blows and New Beginnings

When the show returned in September, Ellen kicked off the season by addressing the allegations in her opening monologue. In it, the host said the following: "We have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks about the show, our workplace, and what we want for the future. We have made the necessary changes and today, we are starting a new chapter," however the monologue was dismissed by critics as performative and the video has collected 96,000 dislikes and only 46,000 likes. It seemed glaringly obvious to everyone but Ellen herself, that the public had made their mind up for good this time. Ellen’s ratings reflected this as her show’s 18th season saw an almost immediate 43% drop in viewership. That brings us to today, a world in which The Ellen Degeneres Show is soon to be no more.

Whew, that was a wild ride. Regardless of all the bad blood, 18 years on television is no joke and we do wish Ellen a great final season and good luck on her future projects.

What do you think, does TikTok’s theory hold up? Please let us know in the comments down below.

TikTok Creds: @Trajesty and @HaythamJ