Osbourne had previously tweeted his support for Morgan.
“. @piersmorgan, I’m with you. I’m with you,” she wrote. “People forget that you get paid for your opinion and that you’re just telling your truth.”
In her CBS program on Wednesday, she sought to clarify her position, saying she did not like or agree with everything Morgan said. “It is not my opinion,” she said. “Support him for his freedom of speech, and he is my friend.”
His co-host Sheryl Underwood, who is black, has backed off.
“What would you say to people who can feel that, while you are with your friend, it looks like you give validation or safe haven to something he said is racist, even if you don’t agree?” Underwood asked Osbourne.
This made Osbourne cry, saying that he felt “about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend”, and asking Underwood to tell him what Morgan said was racist.
“Educate me, tell me,” said Osbourne.
“It is not the exact words of racism, it is the implication and the reaction to it,” said Underwood. “Not wanting to approach it because she is a black woman and trying to reject it or make it seem less than it is, that’s what makes it racist.”
Underwood added that Osbourne is her friend and she did not want the public to think that he was attacking her as a racist.
Morgan tweeted his appreciation for Osbourne, with whom he appeared as a judge on “America’s Got Talent”.
“When things like this happen, true friends run towards you, false friends run away. I love Sharon Osbourne because she always stays true to herself, ”he tweeted on Wednesday. “She knew she would be abused by the watch brigade for tweeting this – but she did it anyway because that is what she believes.”