"If anybody knows me, they know I'm a fighter," the host said on Feb. 9
Sherri/YouTube
NEED TO KNOW
- Sherri Shepherd is speaking out after the cancellation of Sherri
- She announced on her eponymous talk show on Monday, Feb. 9, that she is “not ready to throw in the towel on this show just yet”
- “If anybody knows me, they know I’m a fighter,” she said
Sherri Shepherd isn't going to "throw in the towel" on her talk show just yet.
The Sherri host returned to air on Monday, Feb. 9, marking the first episode of her eponymous talk show since the syndicated series was canceled on Feb. 2.
During her latest episode, which also marked her first back after she came down with Covid-19, Shepherd expressed her gratitude for her audience and admitted she wasn't ready to say goodbye just yet.
Filmed at Chelsea Studios in New York City, Sherri will continue production on its fourth season with the last episodes set to air this fall.
"I want to be clear: I'm not ready to throw in the towel on this show just yet. I'm not. I'm not," Shepherd, 58, said. "We're gonna be airing episodes all though the fall. And we're going to continue to fight to keep this show alive in some way, shape or form. If anybody knows me, they know I'm a fighter. I don't know exactly what it's going to look like, but I promise, I am going to continue to spread joy."
Sherri/YouTube
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Shepherd opened the show on Monday by jokingly encouraging the crowd to not "faint or fall out" because "healthcare is expensive and none of us have it anymore." She then said she was "truly overwhelmed by the outpouring of love" she's gotten since the news of the cancellation broke.
"From the audience, to everybody on social media, to people who stop me in the store and still talk to me despite me not having a wig on, they still talk to me," Shepherd said. "From the emails, the texts, the messages, I feel every bit of the love that you've been sending to me. And thank you so much."
The Sherri audience then applauded her, as the host thanked them for "welcoming me into your homes every single day."
"I want to thank you for laughing and crying with us. Thank you for supporting my unhealthy obsession with Lenny Kravitz. But I gotta tell you, when I first started, this show was built on one thing and what I wanted it built on was joy. Joy," she said. "The intention of this show, always, was my prayer for you to leave happier than when you've came. And you know this, I talked about this. It has been my dream to have a talk show and I'm so grateful I had the chance to do it for four seasons."
Shepherd also offered a message for guests, a close friend and her producer: "Please don't be trying nothing crazy on this show."
"I don't want you coming, talking about you in solidarity, you want to run across the stage naked. My supervisor and producer Norman Baker, he said he's got plans on streaking on the last day. I want security to watch Norman Baker because I don't want to see all of that," she joked. "My best friend Kym Whitley said she's bringing an empty suitcase so she can steal stuff from the green rooms. She said she's got dibs on all of Whoopi's shoes in the room. Security, I need you to watch her, too."
Shepherd closed her remarks by reiterating that she'll "continue to have a good time."
"And I just want to thank you, because my staff and my crew, that is what we're all about," she said. "Making sure that from the moment you walk in and turn me on, you are having a good time. Because like your favorite auntie, I'm here to make you laugh, get in your business and stay longer than you plan."
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Shepherd's comments come shortly after sharing on social media that she was "grateful" for the support she's seen over the past week. In her Sunday post, Shepherd detailed having Covid and said she felt "good."
"I am in such a complete state of being grateful. Being grateful to be alive, being grateful that I have energy, that I'm not sick. It was a rough one this week, I'm telling y'all," she said. "So much news, so much news!"
She later added in an Instagram video, "I'm so appreciative. I talked to Jennifer Hudson yesterday. She called me. I love her so much. She sent me these flowers that are just amazing. I sent her flowers too because she didn't get her flowers yet from me."
During her Sunday, Feb. 8 episode of the Two Funny Mamas podcast, co-host Whitley jokingly opened by announcing that Shepherd was "no longer" going to be part of the show. She then read a "statement," which mirrored the one that Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury shared to the press upon the announcement that Sherri was canceled.
"Kym Whitley, what are you doing," Shepherd chimed in. "You're reading a statement on my talk show! I am not being renewed from my talk show. I lost my talk show. The podcast is fine."
On Feb. 2, Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury confirmed to PEOPLE that Shepherd’s Fox syndicated series was canceled.
“This decision is driven by the evolving daytime television landscape and does not reflect on the strength of the show, its production — which has found strong creative momentum this season, or the incredibly talented Sherri Shepherd,” Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus said in a statement to PEOPLE at the time. “We believe in this show and in Sherri and intend to explore alternatives for it on other platforms.”
Shepherd previously won a Daytime Emmy in 2009 for The View, where she was a full-time co-host from 2007 to 2014 and later made a brief return. She launched Sherri in September 2022.
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