Sharon Osbourne sat down for her first interview since she left The Talk and branded her co-stars ‘disgruntled ladies’ after their accusations of racism led to her forced exit.
Appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday, the 68-year-old hit out at her costars including Sheryl Underood, Leah Remini and Julie Chen and said that women are ‘b****es and that’s the way it is’.
The star continued, ‘I never, ever said that Leah Remini was a whatever she said. I don’t even use though words. They’re not in my vocabulary.
‘And for Holly, I think I said when I printed the text that she sent me after she said I got her fired. In the text she said, ‘I know it was Julie. I know it was Les. I’m thinking of suing.’
Sharon Osbourne has broken her silence since her forced exit from her show The Talk after defending Piers Morgan amid his own forced exit
She also defended Piers Morgan over his Meghan Markle comments while calling Prince Harry the ‘poster boy’ of ‘white privilege.’
Sharon also slammed ‘woke culture’ for cancelling anyone who couldn’t keep up with changing ‘acceptable’ language.
‘I’m angry. I’m hurt,’ Osbourne said when asked about the scandal that saw her leave her show on March 26, after 11 years.
‘I’ve been called so many things in my life. I am so used to be called names. But a racist is one I will not take,’ she said.
The scandal began in the wake of Prince Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah, where they claimed Meghan experienced racism as a royal and even felt suicidal.
Morgan had said after the interview: ‘I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she said, Meghan Markle. I wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report.’
The British journalist was immediately forced out of his role as host from ITV’s Good Morning Britain on March 9, following his comments.
Osbourne, 68, leapt to Morgan’s defense on The Talk, saying she supports her friend ‘for his freedom of speech’. The comment lead to tense exchange with co-host Sheryl Underwood and eventually lead to the ousting of Osbourne and a flurry of claims from her former colleagues about her alleged racism.
Osbourne, 68, appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday where she repeatedly told the host that she is ‘fine’ and a fighter’
Osbourne said she has ‘been called so many things’ in her life but that ‘racist is one I will not take’
Osbourne then appeared to defend the royal family from Markle’s accusations but noting that the Queen is ‘from a different generation’
Osbourne called her former co-hosts on The Talk ‘disgruntled ladies’ after allegations she made racist comments
On Friday, Osbourne, wife of legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne, sat down with Maher to address the scandal.
Maher asked if the racial allegations being thrown around meant that ‘you have to agree with everything Meghan Markle says or you’re a racist? Is this the standard now?’
‘Okay, I’m trying to go back and think of the words that somebody who is meant to be an expert in ‘woke’ language,’ Osbourne responded, ‘as is acceptable today, saying that it took away her feelings and that she’s entitled to her feelings and that she was stripped of those by Piers.’
She also defended Piers Morgan over his Meghan Markle comments while calling Prince Harry the ‘poster boy’ of ‘white privilege.’
Osbourne added that Meghan is ‘entitled to her opinion and Piers is entitled to his and that’s what it’s all about and then you are entitled to a disagreement.’
She argued that Meghan’s claims about the royal family were baseless and her allegedly cold welcome would have been offered to anyone coming into the family.
‘[The Queen] is from a different generation,’ Osbourne said. ‘They are notoriously non-huggy. I get it, because of her age. She’s from a different generation.’
She also criticized Harry for his criticism when she claimed he was a classic example of ‘white privilege.’
‘You know when they say white privilege? You know, right there with Harry. Right there. He is the poster boy. So you know, he sits there and says ‘daddy cut him off and he’s not on the wages anymore’ and he was boohooing about it,’ Osbourne said.
‘You can’t feel empathy for that. Because you’re a healthy, bright, educated young man. You can do whatever you want to do. Your life is your own.’
She added: ‘But disagreeing with somebody does not make you a racist in my book.’
Markle, 39, had revealed she had suicidal thoughts while a member of the royal family in a bombshell interview with Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey last month
The Talk hosts react to Meghan and Harry’s revealing interview with Oprah Winfrey in March
Osbourne later said: ‘This word that they throw out about the cancel culture and it is, what are you doing? I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m a fighter and I’m doing just fine.’
‘It’s about maybe not knowing what is correct and woke for your language that day because it changes from day to day what is correct and what isn’t,’ she said.
‘You cannot blanket every race. There is good and bad in every race.’
During the interview, Maher also prompted Osbourne about her relationship with Morgan.
‘Oh he’s just a friend of mine, we’ve worked together over the years,’ Osbourne said.
Maher then asked her to recall a story about Morgan once seeing her breasts.
Osbourne largely side-stepped the question, but admitted that Morgan saw ‘just one.’
‘Behave,’ Osbourne warned Maher.
Underwood and Osbourne are pictured at the 41st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in 2014
Osbourne’s first message to Underwood dated 7.28pm on March 12 is shown above
Osbourne later sent two more messages to Underwood that went unanswered
Osbourne also addressed claims from former co-hosts which accused her of using racist slurs against people of Asian descent and lesbians. Former co-host Holly Robinson Peete had accused Osbourne of calling her ‘too ghetto’ while Leah Remini said she called Julie Chen ‘wonton.’
‘I never ever said that Leah Remini was a whatever she said. I don’t even use those words. They are not in my vocabulary. And for Holly, you know I think I said it all when I printed the text she sent me,’ Osbourne said.
She added: ‘It’s disgruntled ladies.’
During the explosive exchange with Osbourne, Underwood – who is black – pushed back hard and accused Osbourne of downplaying Morgan’s comments.
‘Educate me, tell me when you have heard him say racist things,’ Osbourne said.
‘I very much feel like I’m about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend, who many people think is a racist, so that makes me a racist?’
Underwood later claimed Osbourne never apologized to her in a three-part series on her podcast titled ‘Sharon Walks Away.’
Osbourne refuted her claim that she never apologized after their on-air row by revealing exclusive screenshots of her text messages to DailyMail.com.
‘I not only sent these messages to Sheryl but I apologized to her in person in her dressing room,’ Osbourne told DailyMail.com.
‘Why are you saying I never apologized Sheryl? What are you trying to do to me?
‘Why are you trying to destroy my reputation? Just be honest. Tell me.’