Chrissy Teigen already has a lot of projects on her plate. She’s a host on Lip Sync Battle and Bring the Funny, as well as the author of two very successful cookbooks, Cravings and Cravings: Hungry for More. Though she doesn’t seem like the type to turn down a lucrative opportunity, Teigen did just that when she was offered the chance to host a late-night talk show.
After 17 years on the air, Carson Daly stepped down from his late-night talk show gig, Last Call with Carson Daly. This freed up a spot for NBC to add a much-needed female voice to the late-night roundup. Their first choice was Teigen, though she turned it down. Lilly Singh, a wildly popular Canadian YouTuber, was offered the advantageous 1:30 a.m. slot instead, and accepted. For some time, there was speculation as to why Chrissy Teigen turned down an opportunity most entertainers would jump at. The former model finally gave her answer in an interview with Vanity Fair.
Chrissy Teigen does not want to be canceled
In the interview, Teigen explained that such a high-profile job was more than she could handle at the moment and “cancel culture” figured heavily into her reasoning. “It was just too much attention and focus on me,” she said. “It’s almost like the more things you do, the closer you are to getting canceled. It’s so scary to me — to have the world turn on you and hate you.”
Chrissy Teigen’s husband, John Legend, was quick to reassure her, telling his wife, “You honestly have nothing to worry about, bottom line.” He referenced almost-SNL cast member, comedian Shane Gillis as an example of one of the few people he considered actually “canceled.” Gillis was fired before he’d even started his run on the sketch-comedy show for racist and homophobic jokes he’d made in the past. His point seemed to be that nothing Teigen has done thus far has made an audience ask, “Does what this person brings to culture outweigh the negatives they’ve done?”
Teigen’s talk show dreams aren’t dead in the water
Teigen agreed with her husband, then clarified that she still has ambitions to do more with her career. “I’m anxious but I still have an ego. I feel like opportunities will come back to me when I’m more ready and more stable,” she said. For now, she’s satisfied with her supporting roles like the ones she plays on Lip Sync Battle and Bring the Funny. Though a late night talk show isn’t in the cards for Chrissy Teigen at the moment, she revealed that one of her biggest dreams is to co-host a nighttime variety show with Legend.
If the tabloids are to be believed — and they’re not — this isn’t the first time Teigen has been offered a chance at her own talk show. Life & Style claimed Ellen DeGeneres was retiring and was considering either Chrissy Teigen or Neil Patrick Harris as replacements. Gossip Cop didn’t trust the outlet’s story, so we reached out to a production source who assured us DeGeneres had “no plans to retire.” The untrustworthy tabloid couldn’t have gotten the story more wrong if they tried.