Ellen DeGeneres gives Adam Levine an NBC ‘Voice’ warning

ellen degeneres gives adam levine a voice warning 2019 images

Ellen DeGeneres knows all too well what happens when a tv network turns on you, so she quickly gave longtime friend and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine some words of warning about his slightly messy “The Voice” exit. Her words obviously left a mark as Levine was heard discussing this over the weekend.

DeGeneres who just renewed her popular talk show for 3 more years reminded Levine that “The Voice” literally salvaged his career as the singer admitted that his band Maroon 5 were close to calling it quits before he landed in the big red chair. This career move revived both him and his band. The singer was frustrated that he was pushed to the sidelines this season after the new format changes decimated his team. He mentioned that during one episode letting fans know he wasn’t happy.

DeGeneres wished him luck on his heavily marketed NBC “Songland” show (he’s Executive Producer) but reminded the singer that he still needs to stay on friendly terms with NBC as “The Voice” will be a useful marketing tool for whatever else he wants to do with his career. Also, the show might not land with fans so don’t count on it becoming a hit like “The Voice” did.

Friends of DeGeneres commented that Ellen thinks it would be smart for Levine to take a break now as last season found him turning fans off when he plugged singer Reagan Strange over DeAndre Nico. Strange didn’t perform that night but sat on the sidelines while Nico performed. This resulted in his going home and fans getting angry over his torpedoing Nico.

adam levine with reagan strange and demarco nico voice
THE VOICE — “Live Top 11 Results” Episode 1516B — Pictured: (l-r) Reagan Strange, Adam Levine, DeAndre Nico — (Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

“There is an unbelievably talented little girl right now who is not able to fight for her position on this show,” Levine said about Strange, mentioning that he had two daughters himself. “The thought of breaking her heart by not urging everyone to give this girl a shot to go and redeem herself next week would be too far beneath me.”

Many fans hadn’t gotten over that slight which resulted in his team not getting near as much support after the Live Cross Battles. He wound up having no one on his team and just sitting alone not wanting to comment nearly as much.

Workers on the show were used to his up and down moods, but “it was obvious he had checked out,” one PA said. “Most of this season, he didn’t seem like he wanted to be here, but when it was obvious his team suffered because of him, his ego really got bruised. Fans were still pissed off after what he did for Reagan [Strange] in Season 16.”

While many would kill to make $26 million a year to coach singers, Levine was obviously not happy getting pushed to the side. Even Blake Shelton, who would normally tease him about losing his entire team, remained very quiet about this happening. While some media sites are saying that NBC wanted to immediately fire Levine after his boorish behavior at the annual Upfront showcase, this actually wasn’t the case. Everyone working on the show and executives had grown accustomed to his constant mood swings, especially if he felt he wasn’t getting enough attention.

It was Levine’s comments that if the show didn’t “get rid of the new format he would walk” that was the final straw for NBC executives. That led to Carson Daly having to announce Levine’s leaving on the “Today” show which was soon followed by the singer saying his goodbye on Instagram.

“Levine’s exit was only mutual in that he gave the executives an easy excuse to get rid of him after being the cause of enough controversies, including performing during the Super Bowl halftime show. You know how it is with networks, when they want to get rid of someone, they’ll look as far back and point out every problem they were part of. If Adam’s smart, he’ll lay low for a while and play nice when he needs to promote something on the show,” the source said. “He can rub people the wrong way very quickly, and Adam’s been rubbing a bit too much lately.”

Season 17 of “The Voice” will see the return of Gwen Stefani, John Legend, Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton.