WI: Ellen Doesn't Come Out of the Closet in 1997

We all know Ellen DeGeneres as the lovable, bubbly daytime talk show host who loves to dance, host people of all kinds on her show, and crusade for gay and transgender equality. She's beloved by middle-class and upper-class housewives and the gay community. Some view her as the successor to Oprah.

However, Ellen had a completely different life before that. She was a stand-up comedian and had her own sitcom which aired in the mid-90s. In 1997, she decided to come out of the closet in real life and have her TV character come out too. The coming out stunt gave her a temporary popularity boost, but the show declined in ratings and was canceled in 1998. Ellen's career tanked until she played Dory in Finding Nemo and was given her talk show. Obviously, we know what happens after that. Despite her temporary career exile, many credit her coming out as paving the way for mainstream TV to have gay main characters and gay plotlines, some examples being Will and Grace, Glee, Degrassi, QAF, and The New Normal.


Now, my question is...what if Ellen never came out in 1997? What if she decided to continue her mundane routine of passing for straight?

Would she have come out eventually? Would she have stayed closeted? Would she be as successful and popular as she is today? Would it have taken mainstream TV a bit longer to catch up on gays and gay issues (AKA, would Will and Grace have premiered in let's say 2000 or 2001 as opposed to 1998, a year after the "special" Ellen episode)?
 
Last edited:
Yeah, i'm sure she'll come eventually. Maybe 3 or 4 years later, at most.

I'd agree with that. There were plenty of question re her sexuality even prior to that. I think she is great even though I've never though she was particularly comedicaly funny.
 

jahenders

Banned
If she didn't come out she would likely NOT be as popular as now. She was embraced by Hollywood, etc as a way of showing their tolerance and forward-thinking. Without that extra push, she might not have gotten either the role of Dory or her talk show.

That being said, if she didn't come out in 97, she would almost certainly have come out within a few years. In her line of work, there was simply no reason not to.
 
Her sitcom was essentially floundering, reformatted, sometimes randomly, from one year to the next. I think that the only thing that was really working was her coded teasing of her sexuality. So coming out was kind of the point.

I don't think that coming out hurt her at all.
 
Top