Random Things When Ellen DeGeneres Came Out Publicly (14 items)

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  (#1) ABC Wanted To Give Ellen's Character A Puppy Instead Of A Romantic Relationship

  Like any network cautious of losing viewership, ABC was initially against the idea of both versions of Ellen coming out. In 2017, celebrating the 20th anniversary of "The Puppy Episode" on her talk show, Ellen DeGeneres said during her opening monologue that executives told writers - in response to their plan to have the character Ellen come out so she could pursue a relationship on the show - to just give her a puppy.

  Eventually, the network came around, but to maintain the secrecy of the episode's plot, the title "The Puppy Episode" stuck.
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  (#2) Some Advertisers Pulled Out - But Others Welcomed The Opportunity To Reach New Audiences

  According to The New York Times, some advertisers were hesitant to show ads the night of "The Puppy Episode," but not all were willing to speak openly about it. Chrysler was one of the few that did, saying through a spokesperson:

  We don't think it is a smart business decision to be advertising in an environment that is so polarized... It is not a content issue at all. We don't want to sit in judgment of what a TV show is doing about [relationship] preference. It's a business decision about trying to stay out of the fray. The environment around this is so angry we feel we lose no matter what we do.

  Other advertisers, such as E-Trade, took advantage of what was expected to be a large audience - including LGBTQ+ people - to air ads during the episode. 

  Volkswagen aired an ad that featured two men who drive a VW Golf. The ad was "not really about sexuality, nor does it endorse a particular lifestyle," a spokesman said at the time. "It's about advertising our products to a target audience of drivers, which matches the viewers of Ellen and which would include many different life styles.''

  Organizations such as the Family Research Council, which describes itself as "dedicated to articulating and advancing a family-centered philosophy of public life" and believes LGBTQ+ "conduct is harmful," asked advertisers to pull out of the episode:

  The only option, one that is as American as apple pie, is to ask advertisers not to support programming that viewers feel is objectionable and to let them know that if they do, viewers will vote with their wallets the next time they are in the grocery store.
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  (#3) The Season Leading Up To 'The Puppy Episode' Was Filled With Teases

  Ellen DeGeneres, who was also part of the show's writing team, made the rounds on numerous talk shows promoting the fourth season of Ellen. DeGeneres's lesbianism was more or less an open secret by then, but when asked about the subject during interviews, she usually either deflected the question or said her personal life was not up for discussion.

  When rumors circulated that her character would be coming out of the closet, DeGeneres and her fellow writers used the speculation to their advantage. DeGeneres said in a few interviews that it would be revealed that Ellen was "Lebanese."

  Numerous gags in earlier episodes of Season 4 involved such jokes as Ellen literally coming out of a closet, and her friends asking, "When are you coming out?"
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  (#4) Ellen Had Privately Been Out To Her Close Friends, Cast Members, And Writing Staff

  Before "The Puppy Episode," Ellen DeGeneres had been silent in public about her LGBTQ+ orientation.

  In the late 1980s, upon moving to West Hollywood, she had a series of female "roommates" (as described by Megan Mullally on The Ellen DeGeneres Show), but maintained boundaries while she pursued a career in the public eye. At the time, identifying as anything other than "straight" was seen as a risk or even a career-ender.
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  (#5) Oprah Winfrey Was Cast As Ellen Morgan's Therapist To 'Legitimize' Her Coming Out

  Ellen DeGeneres personally asked a number of actors to appear as guest stars in the episode, including Oprah Winfrey, who played Ellen Morgan's therapist. In 1997, The Oprah Winfrey Show and its host were universally watched, respected, and beloved.

  In 2017, DeGeneres interviewed Winfrey on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "The Puppy Episode." DeGeneres explained why she wanted Winfrey to play the therapist: "You would legitimize all of it. People would go, 'Oh, we're not trying to make a joke of this. This is actually serious.'"

  Winfrey responded: "I so believed in your truth, and I so wanted to support you... You were the bravest woman ever."
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  (#6) More Than 42 Million People Watched The Episode

  A staggeringly large audience tuned in to watch Ellen's coming out, making it the most viewed episode of the series with 42 million people.

  In comparison, the only episode of Friends to beat this level of viewership was the series finale in 2004, with 52 million people. Viewing parties for Ellen were held coast to coast, and cheers erupted as she uttered the words, "I'm gay."
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  (#7) Following The Episode, Some Guest Stars Had Difficulty Finding Work

  Some of the guest actors on "The Puppy Episode" faced backlash for their participation in the show. Oprah Winfrey received numerous prejudiced comments and letters.

  Laura Dern, who played Ellen Morgan's romantic interest, Susan, later told DeGeneres she didn't work for a year in the TV industry after taking on the role. However, she had no regrets: "I remember the same bliss of getting to be part of supporting you and this moment, and what a privilege and an honor it felt like."  
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  (#8) DeGeneres And ABC Received Threats 

  After Ellen DeGeneres came out in Time magazine, she received ominous threats. She told Adweek, "When I came out, I had death threats and there was a bomb threat, but they misjudged the time of the taping. We had already finished, and thank God."

  The show beefed up its security tactics after the threat. Other critics called the director with angry comments, and the network received a great deal of hate mail. 
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  (#9) Ellen's Coming Out Took Over The News Cycle

  In 2018, Ellen DeGeneres told Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast that even though she only gave three interviews around the time of her coming out - the Time cover story, an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC's 20/20 - people thought she was talking too much about coming out because the news media and late-night TV jumped all over the topic. 

  “During the time, because there was so much talk about it, everyone was just sick of it,” she said. DeGeneres was depressed and hurt by the backlash, she said. She even recalled a comment from Elton John, who apparently said, "Shut up already. We know you’re gay. Be funny."

  "I had never met him and I thought, 'What kind of support is that from a gay person,'" she said. "But everybody assumed I was just nonstop talking about [it]. It hurt my feelings."
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  (#10) DeGeneres And Girlfriend Anne Heche Appeared On 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' The Same Day As The Episode

  At the time of DeGeneres's coming out, she was dating actress Anne Heche. The couple appeared together on The Oprah Winfrey Show the day "The Puppy Episode" aired to talk about their relationship.

  Heche said she hadn't known she was gay until she saw DeGeneres "across a crowded room" at an Oscars party and was attracted to her:

  In the beginning, souls connect. There are times when souls come together and they are just meant to be... My soul was meant to be with hers... In love there’s... no segregation... It’s actually very exciting to be a representation not only of truth but of love.

  Heche and DeGeneres broke up in 2000. DeGeneres began dating actress Portia de Rossi in 2004, and they married in 2008.
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  (#11) 'Ellen' Ended The Following Season

  After Ellen Morgan came out in the fourth season of Ellen, the show was canceled a year later when its fifth season ended.

  Mark Driscoll, an executive producer for Ellen, told Vanity Fair in 2017 he thought ratings for the program might have dropped because "the show kind of became about a woman being gay, instead of a woman who happened to be gay. Eventually, people just turned away from it."

  DeGeneres said that despite the initial celebration after "The Puppy Episode," the network seemed to get cold feet. The network, for example, added "adult content" warnings for viewers. DeGeneres told Dax Shepard in 2018:

  [T]hey just stopped promoting it because everybody was scared. We were losing sponsors, so they were just acting like, "We’re just letting it glide. We’re not going to touch it." I got no more advertising, I got no more promotion. So they canceled it.
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  (#12) Degeneres Continued To Work In TV With Varying Levels Of Success

  After Ellen was canceled, DeGeneres said on her talk show in 2019, she went through "a tough time" and "lost [her] career for a little while."

  In 2000, she landed her first stand-up special on HBO, marking her first major solo venture following the cancellation of Ellen. (During the special, she addresses her coming out in an interpretive dance.)

  In 2001, DeGeneres hosted the Emmy Awards, which were canceled and rescheduled twice after 9/11 and its aftermath. Her performance is remembered especially for this one-liner: "What would upset the Taliban more than a gay woman wearing a suit in front of a room full of Jews?"

  Also in 2001, DeGeneres tried another sitcom, this time on CBS with The Ellen Show, playing Ellen Richmond, an out lesbian who moves back home after her internet company goes belly-up. The idea was to focus less on the "firsts" of the final season of Ellen and instead just feature a lesbian in the starring role. The show was canceled mid-season, never airing the final five episodes.

  In 2003, DeGeneres debuted her still-successful syndicated daily talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
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  (#13) 'The Ellen Degeneres Show' Premiered On NBC In 2003 And Remains Widely Popular

  In 2003, Ellen DeGeneres made history once again by being the second LGBTQ+ woman to host a major daytime talk show (Rosie O'Donnell was the first). The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which has won 11 Daytime Emmy Awards from 2007 through 2019 for outstanding talk show/entertainment talk show, was renewed in 2019 until 2022.

  DeGeneres offers a kind, "negative-free" atmosphere on the show, interviewing celebrities and extraordinary real people, playing games, dancing, and interacting with and empowering audiences.

  DeGeneres also hosts NBC's Ellen’s Game of Games. 
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  (#14) Megan Mullally Credits 'Ellen' With Paving The Way For 'Will & Grace'

  The 1998 fall TV season following the cancellation of Ellen was host to the first major show to benefit from Ellen DeGeneres and Ellen Morgan coming out of the closet: Will & Grace, which featured Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes playing two gay friends, Will and Jack.

  In 2019, Will & Grace actress Megan Mullally, as a guest on DeGeneres's talk show, thanked the host for making Will & Grace possible:

  Your show really laid the groundwork for Will & Grace. I don’t know if there would have been a Will & Grace if you had not done that show and come out, so thank you for that. 

  Other shows featuring prominent LGBTQ+ characters and themes in the wake of Ellen included Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), Queer As Folk (2000), Six Feet Under (2001), and The L Word (2004).

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