Sharon Osbourne, the last original speaker on “The Talk”, is leaving the daytime program after an internal investigation, CBS announced Friday afternoon.
“The events of the March 10 broadcast were disturbing for everyone involved, including the audience watching at home,” the network said in a statement. “As part of our analysis, we concluded that Sharon’s behavior towards his co-hosts during the March 10 episode did not align with our values for a respectful workplace. We also found no evidence that CBS executives orchestrated the discussion or surprised any of the hosts. “
The network acknowledged that “the Network and Studio teams, as well as the showrunners” were responsible for what happened during an intense exchange between Osbourne and fellow speaker Sheryl Underwood, noting that it was clear that the co-hosts were not properly prepared for the moment.
“The Talk”, which has been on a hiatus for two weeks, awaiting the results of the CBS investigation, will return with original episodes on April 12. A hiatus had been scheduled for the week of April 5.
The explosive conversation between the co-hosts was sparked by Osbourne’s defense the day before Piers Morgan, who was accused of racism for not believing certain comments that former Meghan Markle made in her recent interview with Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey . Morgan ended up giving up his show on ITV’s “Good Morning Britain” program.
“I feel like I’m about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend that many people think is racist, which makes me a racist,” said Osbourne about Morgan on March 10. She declared that neither she nor Morgan was racist, even when she “tried” – her words, spoken in another interview – in Underwood and asked for an education on what he said was racist. Osbourne apologized for his behavior in a March 11 statement on Twitter.
Underwood remained calm during the March 10 discussion and revisited the situation a few days later on her podcast, saying that at the time she thought she was having a “great conversation” with her colleagues. “The vibe for me was, it was already forgiven and over as soon as it was said,” she said on her podcast.
Osbourne blamed studio executives, saying she was intentionally surprised by a question that accused her of being racist. She said shortly after the March 10 explosion that she was not sure if she would be “welcome there” on “The Talk” and that she might not be coming back.
During the investigation, Osbourne hired the lawyer for entertainment litigator Jeremiah Reynolds of Eisner LLP, whose company biography says he represented Richard Gere, Justin Bieber, Michael Keaton, Paris Hilton, Tom Hanks, the Kardashian family and others besides the Osbourne family .
CBS said Friday that it is taking advantage of its free time to coordinate workshops, listening sessions and training on equity, inclusion and cultural awareness for everyone involved in the production of “The Talk”, including the other hosts.
“In the future, we are identifying plans to improve the production team and production procedures to better serve the hosts, the production and, ultimately, our viewers,” said the network.