Sharon Osbourne whines about ‘woke language’ amid Meghan Markle, racism and homophobia row
Sharon Osbourne gave her first interview since leaving The Talk in an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher. (YouTube/ Real Time with Bill Maher)
Sharon Osbourne used her first interview since she left The Talk amid a row over Meghan Markle, racism and homophobia, to decry “woke language”.
Since Osbourne’s on-air argument with her The Talk co-host Sheryl Underwood over her defence of Piers Morgan and his comments about Markle, the TV personality has received even more backlash over allegations of racism and homophobia, which she has denied.
Speaking with Bill Maher on his show Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday (16 April),Osbourne said: “It’s not fair, because it isn’t about being a racist.
“It’s about maybe about not knowing what is correct and woke for your language that day, because it changes from day to day.”
She added: “I’ve been called so many things in my life, I am so used to being called names, but a racist is one I will not take.
“I’m going to be just fine, I’m fine, as I said I’m a fighter, I’m fine.”
Meyer, who has previously called trans issues “crazy stuff”, said it’s “not unreasonable” to ban trans women from women’s toilets and was forced to apologise in 2017 after saying the n-word on live TV, also chimed in.
He said: “The idea in there is that you have two choices if you are white, you are either a racist or a racist and you don’t know it.”
Sharon Osbourne has denied calling gay former co-host a “fish eater”.
Last month, Sharon Osbourne took to social media to defend Piers Morgan after he criticised Meghan Markle’s comments about life in the royal family in her interview with Oprah, declaring he did not “believe a word” she had said.
Osbourne later appeared on her show The Talk and declared that she is not racist and “neither is Piers racist”.
The episode went into meltdown after her co-host Sheryl Underwood said she felt Osbourne was “validating racist” views.
Osbourne demanded Underwood, who is Black, “educate” her about racism live on air and told her: “Don’t try and cry, because if anyone should be crying it should be me.”
She issued a grovelling apology, but soon afterwards, journalist Yashar Ali published a damning article alleging that would use racist and homophobic slurs on set.
Citing several sources including former The Talk co-host Leah Remini, Ali claimed that Osbourne would “frequently refer to then-co-host Julie Chen, who is Chinese American, as “wonton” and “slanty eyes”, and that she would refer to her former co-host and executive producer Sara Gilbert, who is gay, as “p***y licker” and “fish eater”.
In response, Howard Bragman, Osbourne’s publicist, said: “Sharon is disappointed but unfazed and hardly surprised by the lies, the recasting of history and the bitterness coming out at this moment.”
