W.hat comes on The conversationJust a day after CBS announced the panel show was on hiatus after a daytime break controversial exchange between hosts Sharon Osbourne and Sheryl Underwood went viral, Osbourne is now accused by her ex-cohosts and anonymous sources of using racist and homophobic language towards her colleagues and creating a “toxic environment” on set.
The drama started on March 9, when it used to be Good morning Great Britain Host and Twitter provocateur Piers Morgan made insensitive comments about Meghan Markle after her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. After mentioning in ITV’s morning news program that he “didn’t believe a word” Markle said of her suicidal thoughts during her time as Duchess of Sussex, Morgan caused thousands of complaints to the network and led to an investigation by British communications regulator Ofcom before finally retiring from the show. The next day The conversation, Osbourne defended Morgan, who she describes as her boyfriend, but was pressured by her co-co-hosts Underwood and Elaine Welteroth, both black women, about why she would support someone who made racist comments.
The conversation took a hostile turn when Osbourne became visibly upset, claiming that she felt like she was being put in an ‘electric chair’ and vigorously demanded that Underwood ‘inform’ her about how Morgan’s comments were racist. When Underwood got tearful while trying to explain the racist overtones of Morgan’s comments, Osbourne scolded her for crying, saying that “if anyone should be crying, it should be me.”
As you can imagine in the year 2021, this clip did not get right, especially to black people, on Twitter. While some users applauded Underwood for staying calm during the heated conversation, many expressed anger at Osbourne’s aggressive antics and wondered why black women should keep their cool despite being abused by whites in the workplace.
Since the video was distributed, the back and forth between Osbourne, her attorney, her ex-colleagues, CBS and her critics has been online almost non-stop. On Friday, Osbourne gave the same day a long one apology on Twitter, actress Holly Robinson Peete, who was a co-presenter The conversation in its first season, tweeted that Osbourne reportedly complained she was ‘ghetto’ and suggested she was involved in her departure from the show. Twitter users were quick to get one tweet from former co-host of The conversation Leah Remini in 2012 in which the actress mentions Osbourne with the racialized term to describe her and Robinson Peete. Users also pointed to a video clip from Osbourne in 2018 that stated that Meghan Markle “isn’t black” because “she doesn’t look black”.
The next day, in an exclusive interview with Variety, Osbourne vehemently denied the use of the word “ghetto,” although one Twitter user has one video of her using it on the show while talking to Remini. She also said she felt “blinded” The conversationproducers during the Piers Morgan segment and claimed they didn’t know they were going to discuss him.
On Monday, CBS responded to the catastrophe that quickly unfolded online by announcing that they were conducting an “internal review” of the on-air incident between Osbourne and Underwood, and the show closed until Wednesday. Yesterday, however, the network extended the show’s hiatus to next Tuesday after journalist Yashar Ali published a report on his Substack revealing Osbourne’s alleged use of racist and homophobic language against her ex-colleagues Julie Chen and Sara Gilbert. Along with other common allegations of bullying spanning decades from various sources, Remini claims in the article that Osbourne Chen, who is Chinese-American, called ‘wonton’ and ‘slender eyes’ and also used ethnic insults against Italians. She also made claims, supported by my multiple anonymous sources, that Osbourne was referring to Gilbert (The conversationcreator and executive producer alongside former co-host), who is a lesbian, ‘pussy licker’ and ‘fish eater’.
Remini claims in the article that Osbourne referred to Chen, who is Chinese-American, as ‘wonton’ and ‘slanty eyes’, as well as … referred to Gilbert (the creator and executive producer of ‘The Talk’ alongside the former co-host), who is a lesbian, like ‘pussy licker’ and ‘fish eater’.
If this saga couldn’t get more hectic, Osbourne sat down Entertainment tonight yesterday to pass on her side of the story, but not before the most recent allegations were dropped. Osbourne only responded to the Underwood incident, expressing regret for rejecting Underwood’s feelings, stating that her response came from a place of “pain” and “fear.”
“I wish we could go on and have a grown up conversation and work it out, but I don’t know if we can,” said Osbourne. AND‘I don’t know if it’s over. I would like to, but I don’t know if I want to go back at all … I don’t know if I’m wanted there. “
During the hectic interview, Osbourne oscillates between expressing remorse and rationalizing her ignorance. It is unfortunate that at this point the television host still thinks it is more important to emphasize that she is “not racist” – as she did in her feud with Underwood – than to admit that she committed an act of racial damage against a black person. In addition, the implication that she thinks an ‘adult conversation’ with Underwood is not possible, even though her co-host showed nothing but patience and calm in response to her histrionics, feels representative of the prejudices white people often have about the temperament of Black women. It seems like what Osbourne really means by “I don’t know if we can have a conversation” is that she doesn’t really want to.
Osbourne also mentions that her other Black co-host Elaine Welteroth (at the time) is open to a conversation about the incident on the show, which is ultimately Welteroth’s prerogative. But it’s unfortunate how often black people have to do this kind of emotional labor in addition to doing the regular duties of their job.
Whether Osbourne and Underwood will be able to work together again feels irrelevant, as it’s hard to imagine the former – who seems more eager to jump off the boat than deal with the fallout from her behavior – redeem herself in the eyes of the public after the latest set of allegations. Given the recent spike in hate crimes against Asian-Americans in the past year due to COVID-19, there is presumably more pressure than at any other time for CBS to simply cut ties with Osbourne based on her alleged comments to Julie Chen alone. . Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be necessary for Osbourne to insult every race and sexuality or for certain social issues to be a trend for the network to realize that the comfort of their employees is more important than the job of one person.
Whether Osbourne will miraculously return to the show or not, I doubt it will be the last we hear from her about this fiasco. As is the case for the most powerful white people with problematic opinions, there will certainly be another platform available on which to rage against ‘cancel culture’ and ‘be awake’ if she wants to.