Showing posts with label Sharon Osbourne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sharon Osbourne. Show all posts

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Sharon Osbourne, cancelled at "The Talk."

It's a complicated story, so read the whole thing at "Sharon Osbourne Is Out at 'The Talk'" (Hollywood Reporter). I'll just excerpt some highlights, which I don't expect you to understand if you don't know the context.

From the statement by CBS: "As part of our review, we concluded that Sharon’s behavior toward her co-hosts during the March 10 episode did not align with our values for a respectful workplace."

From Hollywood Reporter: "The news came two weeks after the March 10 dustup, one that was followed by multiple allegations of racist comments from Osbourne being levied by former co-stars Leah Remini and Holly Robinson Peete.... After Robinson Peete... alleg[ed] Osbourne had referred to her as 'too ghetto,' Remini... claimed that Osbourne had made racist comments about former colleague (and Chinese American woman) Julie Chen, homophobic remarks about The Talk creator and then-moderator Sara Gilbert and made anti-Italian slurs toward Remini herself.... [Osbourne] gave interviews to both Variety and Entertainment Tonight, claiming that she had been 'set up' by the producers and was offered up as a 'sacrificial lamb.' Her publicist also issued a doozy of a statement, alluding to Remini and Robinson Peete's comments by noting 'The only thing worse than a disgruntled former employee is a disgruntled former talk show host.'"

Now, Osbourne is the "disgruntled former talk show host." So we'll see what else she has to say.

Monday, March 15, 2021

"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?"

Said Sheryl Underwood, quoted in "'The Talk' goes on hiatus after Sharon Osbourne defends Piers Morgan/On Wednesday's episode of 'The Talk,' Sheryl Underwood and Sharon Osbourne got into a heated exchange" (NBC). 

I hope you have a sense of how convoluted that is. The accusation of racism against Piers Morgan is already flimsy, but Sharon Osbourne is getting intimidated for saying something supportive about her friend — as if the new rule is that you have to proactively denounce people, or you yourself will become the target. Not only is the first person (Morgan) denied a fair hearing, but the second person (Osbourne) — the one who tries to slow things and ask to look carefully at the accusation — is deemed an accomplice. 

We saw that term "cancel adjacent" the other day. Osbourne is caught on camera experiencing the terror of being cancel adjacent.

Osbourne said: "I feel like I'm about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend who many people think is racist, so that makes me a racist."

From the NBC article:

Osbourne said she didn't believe Morgan's rejection of Meghan's admission of mental health struggles was racist. Osbourne then pivoted, claiming she was being unfairly called a racist.

While trying to go to break, Underwood became tongue-tied. As she said, "Well we'll be right back," Osbourne shot back at Underwood. "Well what?" she asked. "Well what?"

Osbourne continued to press Underwood once the show returned from break. "I will ask you again Sheryl. I've been asking you during the break. I'm asking you again. And don't try and cry because if anyone should be crying, it should be me," she said. "This is the situation. You tell me where you have heard him say ... educate me, tell me when you have heard me say racist things! Educate me, tell me!"

Underwood's response contains no basis for the accusation of racism:

Underwood explained.... "To not want to address that because she is a Black woman, and to try to dismiss it or to make it seem less than what it is, that's what makes it racist"...

Ironically, Underwood's reliance on her own intuition — Morgan seemed racist to her — is the same approach to coming up with an opinion that Morgan used — Markle seemed like a liar to him.

ADDED: To put things back in proportion: