Patrick Warburton recounts awkward encounter with Ellen DeGeneres after refusing guest invite

“Too big to do my show now, huh?” DeGeneres reportedly told Warburton at a Beverly Hills restaurant.

Patrick Warburton recently reflected on an uncomfortable moment involving Ellen DeGeneres. 

In an interview on SiriusXM’s The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw, Warburton, 59, detailed an incident that occurred after he declined a guest role on DeGeneres's sitcom, which aired from 1994 to 1998. 

Warburton, known for his role on Seinfeld, had initially appeared on the show a couple of times before deciding he was ready to move on.

Warburton explained that he turned down a subsequent request to appear on the show due to scheduling conflicts. “They asked me to come back and do another one and I was just kind of done doing guest spots at that time,” he said. 

Two weeks later, while dining at a Beverly Hills restaurant, DeGeneres, 66, approached him and remarked, “Too big to do my show now, huh?” Warburton responded, “No, Ellen. I just had a conflict,” which DeGeneres seemed to dismiss as insincere before walking away.

Warburton speculated that this interaction might have influenced his exclusion from DeGeneres’s talk show, which aired for 19 seasons until its end in 2022 amid allegations of a toxic work environment. 

Despite the encounter, Warburton remains a fan of DeGeneres’s comedic talent. He noted, “What I recall working on that show was that as far as crowd work and talking, she was just this remarkable comedian.”

A representative for DeGeneres did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. In recent news, DeGeneres has faced criticism related to her show’s work culture and has recently cancelled several stand-up tour dates.