Earlier this week it was reported that Ellen DeGeneres would be ending her longtime-running talk show. Now it appears that Tiffany Haddish may already be in talks to take over her throne.
Read More: Ellen DeGeneres responds to allegations of toxic work environment
Haddish, who is easily one of the hardest working women in show business, is no stranger to DeGeneres’s audience and has frequently filled in for the industry vet when she’s on vacation, most recently this past April, and before that, last October.
Now a senior NBCUniversal source has reportedly revealed to Page Six, “Tiffany is a favorite, she has humor and empathy in spades.”
“She’s top of the list to get a daytime show – she’s a fresh voice,” the source continued.
“DeGeneres owns the rights to her show, which is syndicated and produced by Warner Bros. so it’s impossible to replace her without launching a fresh format with a new host,” Page Six wrote in their report.
As we previously reported, DeGeneres, who has seen a sizable ratings hit after allegations of running a toxic workplace, decided that her upcoming season will be the last, ending in 2022. This also coincides with the end of her contract.
“When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore,” DeGeneres told The Hollywood Reporter, which first broke the news.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which started airing in 2003, and is distributed by Warner Bros., has a mix of dancing, games, and giveaways along with A-list celebrities. But the host, who built her brand on the motto “Be Kind,” opened season 18 in September with a lengthy apology.
Last summer, during the height of the controversy, a clip of her interviewing Mariah Carey in 2008 resurfaced as an example of how the comedian often hid her alleged mean streak in plain sight under the guise of humor.
At the time of the sit-down, the pop star was rumored to be pregnant but intentionally avoided confirming it to the public until she was sure the pregnancy would go to term.
However, many pointed out that DeGeneres seemingly ignored that boundary and repeatedly attempted to get the singer to drink champagne on camera as a way to get her to confirm or deny the rumors.
“I was extremely uncomfortable with that moment is all I can say. And I really have had a hard time grappling with the aftermath,” Carey recently told Vulture last year.
“I wasn’t ready to tell anyone because I had had a miscarriage. I don’t want to throw anyone that’s already being thrown under any proverbial bus, but I didn’t enjoy that moment,” Carey explained, going on to say that there is “an empathy that can be applied to those moments that I would have liked to have been implemented. But what am I supposed to do? It’s like, [sings] ‘What are you going to do?’ ”
Around the same time, three of the show’s producers exited the show amidst allegations of a dysfunctional workplace that harbored misbehavior, including sexual misconduct and racially insensitive remarks.
Nielsen data shows The Ellen DeGeneres Show viewership dropped by 1.1M people this season, going from 2.6M viewers to 1.5M viewers.
READ MORE: Mariah Carey on Ellen DeGeneres pregnancy interview: ‘I was extremely uncomfortable’
DeGeneres was the recipient of the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom under Barack Obama in 2016.
In addition to her talk show, she has had a hand in Fox’s The Masked Dancer, NBC’s Ellen’s Game of Games, and HBO Max’s Ellen’s Next Great Designer.
DeGeneres’s scripted TV show Ellen became a historic landmark in TV history in the 90s when her character came out as gay.
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