Amid Piers Morgan controversy, ‘The Talk’ hiatus is extended
“The Talk” is going into its second full week of hiatus pending an investigation into what went down among Sharon Osbourne and her co-hosts after Meghan and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The daytime talk show, which was to return Tuesday, will remain on break, the Los Angeles Times has confirmed. The show is preempted Monday by NCAA March Madness basketball, and will run repeats Tuesday through Friday.
A couple of days after the “Oprah With Harry and Meghan” interview aired March 7, Osbourne defended friend Piers Morgan’s right to speak disparagingly about the former Meghan Markle. The BBC host — who dismissed Meghan’s claims of suicide ideation and racism within the royal family — had walked off the “Good Morning Britain” set March 9 after he was challenged by weatherman Alex Beresford and wound up quitting the show.
In a tweet and on “The Talk,” Osbourne defended her former “America’s Got Talent” colleague, saying he was a royalist, not a racist. “I think he is hurt by Meghan, terribly,” she said. “That’s why he won’t drop it. It’s a personal thing for him.” Neither he nor she was racist, Osbourne said.
The next day, Osbourne and co-host Sheryl Underwood got into an intense exchange about the situation after Underwood asked, “What would you say to people who may feel that while you’re standing by your friend, it appears you gave validation or safe haven to something that he has uttered that is racist, even if you don’t agree?”
Osbourne became emotional as she spoke to her fellow panelists, saying in part, “So if I like Piers, and he’s seen as racist, then I’m racist? Is that what you’re saying?” As the show went to commercial, producers bleeped out what Underwood later said were Osbourne’s F-bombs. Osbourne also demanded asked Underwood to “educate” her as to what Morgan had said, specifically, that was racist.
Underwood said Morgan’s dismissal of Meghan’s allegations of suicidal ideation and racism among royal family members was in itself racist — not any specific words he used or things he said. Later, in her podcast, Underwood said, “I thought I was talking with colleagues, and I thought we were having a great conversation. It didn’t go so great, part of it.”