SHERYL STRUGGLES OVER SHARON SLAP
Sheryl Underwood took to her podcast over the weekend to break her silence on Sharon Osbourne’s recent exit from “The Talk.”
The comedian, actress and TV host said after Osbourne’s on-air “blowup” went viral last month, she needed time to gather her thoughts because she didn’t “want to add to the chatter in a negative way.”
“Have you spoken to Sharon Osbourne since the last time you were on set together?” podcast co-host James Kelley asked.
“No, no,” Underwood said, adding that she’s “been looking through my phone,” waiting to see a missed call or message.
She said the general public apology that Osbourne posted on social media, which didn’t name her specifically, left her with an “odd feeling.”
“For me, it’s about trust,” she said.
Underwood let her cohosts voice much of the harshest critique of Osbourne’s recent actions but personally shot down speculation CBS executives pushed her to confront Osbourne March 10 on “The Talk” regarding the 68-year-old host’s defense of friend Piers Morgan.
Underwood said she approached the conversation with the hope of giving Osbourne a chance to explain why she rallied around Morgan after he repeatedly railed against Meghan Markle and questioned the Duchess of Sussex’s claims she faced racism inside the British royal family.
Osbourne did not react well the to live line of inquiry and defensively demanded Underwood “educate” her on the topic.
“And don’t try and cry, because if anyone should be crying, it should be me,” Osbourne snapped at Underwood, who appeared stunned by the meltdown.
Osbourne later apologized, but CBS still announced it was placing “The Talk” on a hiatus, and Osbourne formally departed the show two weeks later.
“I believe Piers Morgan has done and said things that people could perceive as racist. I think he traffics in race-baiting discussion, in my opinion,” Underwood said during the three-part podcast spread out over the holiday weekend.
Still, she said Osbourne was someone she admired and still has warm feelings for, despite what happened.
“We would talk about things. I would get advice from her,” she said. “I still love the Osbournes, from what I’ve known of them.”
But that didn’t mean she wasn’t hurt.
“I’m not saying I liked being treated the way I was treated. Let me be clear to everybody listening,” she said. “I’m very disappointed, and I’m trying to navigate my feelings about that, ’cause it was a trauma. Remember I said (I’m) in PTSD, in shock, in slow motion.”
After the televised incident with Underwood, Osbourne was accused of other instances of alleged bias and bullying on the set of “The Talk,” allegations she has denied.