Ellen Made This Unexpected TV Announcement 29 Years Ago Today
Ellen DeGeneres is back in the spotlight amid news of a new Dory-centered short film.
Yes, millennials and plenty of others will recall that the Emmy winner, 68, once voiced the beloved fish in Finding Nemo and its hit sequel, Finding Dory.
DeGeneres was also very much in the spotlight nearly three decades ago, meanwhile. Thursday, April 30 marks exactly 29 years since the comedian made a major announcement on television that might have caught fans by surprise.
Here's the logline of the two-part episode of her beloved sitcomEllen, titled "The Puppy Episode": Ellen's life is changed when she meets Susan (Laura Dern), a lesbian whom she surprisingly finds attractive, and wrestles with accepting her sexuality.
As fans will recall, DeGeneres herself comes out to a co-star within the episode, which ultimately received critical acclaim, won awards and influenced Hollywood in the long run - even if the comedy series only lasted one more season.
The cancellation of Ellen in the late 1990s came amid reported clashing between DeGeneres and ABC following the episode, despite all the acclaim she received from fans simultaneously, per The New York Times.
Even though she reportedly struggled to find work following the axing of her sitcom, DeGeneres would ultimately thrive - particularly with her daytime talk show. In 2016, then-President Barack Obama awarded her the Medal of Freedom, saying:
"Just how important it was not just to the LGBT community, but for all of us to see somebody so full of kindness and light, somebody we liked so much, somebody who could be our neighbor or our colleague or our sister challenge our own assumptions, remind us that we have more in common than we realize, push our country in the direction of justice."
In more recent years, however, DeGeneres faced a new kind of backlash due to reports of toxicity on set of her long-running talk show. But looking ahead, Pixar fans will certainly be tuning in to see her bring Dory back to life in the all-new short film.
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This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 1:15 PM.