Photo-illustration: Vulture and Getty Images
It appears that CBS will not have to investigate its internal investigation very deeply to find Sharon Osbourne’s inappropriate conduct in The conversation. After vehemently defending Piers Morgan’s treatment of Meghan Markle, and later apologizing for his reaction to co-host Sheryl Underwood, the sources introduced themselves to journalist Yashar Ali with stories of Osbourne’s racist and homophobic past behind the scenes at The conversation. Several sources, including former Osbourne co-host Leah Remini, told Ali that Osbourne “often referred to then-co-host Julie Chen, who is Chinese-American, as ‘wonton’ and ‘narrow eyes'”. According to these same sources, Osbourne also referred to his lesbian co-host Sara Gilbert as “‘pussy licking’ and ‘fish eater'”. Remini told Al that, “’Coming from Scientology, where racism, intimidation and intolerance are taught, I had to unlearn a lot. I’m still learning and, hopefully, evolving. I can’t say that Sharon has focused on the work he needs to do. ‘”The newsletter continues to outline Osbourne’s previous racist comments about Meghan Markle, including saying“ She is not black! ”And“ She doesn’t look black ”in a 2018 episode of The conversation.
On March 12, former Osbourne host Holly Robinson Peete tweeted about his own experience with Osbourne’s racist treatment, writing: “I’m old enough to remember when Sharon complained that I was too ‘ghetto’ for # theTalk … so I left,” implying that Osbourne’s racism was partly responsible for his departure The conversation. According to Ali, “Osbourne had her lawyers send a letter of termination and withdrawal saying that if she did not delete the tweet below, she would be prosecuted.
Osbourne’s aide sent Ali a statement in which Osbourne denies the allegations of his co-workers and calls them “lies”