SHARON Osbourne opened up about her exit from The Talk following controversy between her co-host Sheryl Underwood.
The British TV personality left the show in March after an on-air fight with Sheryl ensued after Sharon addressed her decision to stand by her longtime friend Piers Morgan’s criticism of Meghan Markle.
In an interview with Daily Mail TV, Sharon reflected on the incident, explaining how the discussion spiraled.
She said: “It was a freedom of speech matter. It was pure freedom of speech. A journalist friend of mine who wrote something that people didn’t like and then a few crazies out there, some thugs go – ‘you must be racist, that’s why you’re saying it’ – about my friend Piers. It’s like, come on.”
The former America’s Got Talent judge said a similar statement following the heated argument during the live broadcast after she received backlash from viewers.
At the top of the program, she defended herself saying: “Why is it that because I supported a longtime friend and work colleague for years, people go ‘well you must be racist because he’s racist.’
“No. I support his freedom of speech. I’m not racist and neither is Piers racist. It’s a terrible, evil word to call anyone that’s not knowledge of that.
“What have I ever said about anybody that’s racist? It’s not within me. It’s not in my soul.”
‘TOTALLY BETRAYED’
Sharon stands by her word today, telling the outlet that the argument was stirred up by producers who asked her co-hosts to ask her if people thought she was a racist, without her knowledge.
“They all knew the question and they all knew what was going down. I felt totally betrayed,” the TV star claimed.
She then admitted the situation escalated when Sheryl got emotional over Sharon’s comments, leading Sharon to tell her to stop.
Sharon alleged: “We had a disagreement and I told her she shouldn’t be crying, it should be me that should be crying and that didn’t go down well.
‘Then in the commercial break, she wouldn’t talk to me. I was begging her to talk to me and she wouldn’t, and basically I said, go f**k yourself.”
She added: “I would say that to any one of my friends. When you say it to a friend, it’s different than saying it to somebody, a stranger.
“If you can’t get real with somebody who you’ve worked alongside for 10 years, then then you don’t have a friendship, and that’s the way I look at it.”
Sharon revealed that the she hasn’t spoken to her former co-host since their on-air dispute, and likely won’t rekindle their friendship.
‘NOT PROTECTED’
Sharon is also still upset about the way the network and producers handled the disagreement at the time.
The mother of three claimed: “To leave me for 20 minutes on live TV … on live TV … unprepared, not produced, not knowing what’s going on.
“Wait, where’s their apology to me? They could have cut at any time and gone to a commercial break, and why didn’t they cut?”
She continued: “They didn’t cut because they liked the controversy and they liked that everybody would be talking about this because they needed something for the show that was going into the toilet. So they thought, well, she’s got the biggest following. Let’s go for her.
“I felt totally betrayed, not protected by CBS. I felt used. I felt like an old shoe. They didn’t care. It was a set up and it was set up by one of the executive.”
CBS did not immediately respond to The Celeb Report’s request for comment, however, other cast members of the show have previously disputed Sharon’s claim that she was “set up.”
PIERS RESIGNED
Piers also resigned as host of Good Morning Britain after execs said they wanted him to apologize on air following his heated clash with the show’s weatherman, Alex Beresford, 40, over Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Alex criticized Piers for his reaction to Meghan’s claims she contemplated suicide and was racially abused by the royal family.
But Piers said he was not willing to apologize, and walked — bringing an immediate end to his six-year stint on the morning show.
After it was announced he would not return Sharon tweeted: “I am with you. I stand by you. People forget that you’re paid for your opinion and that you’re just speaking your truth.”
The cast continued to unravel in April, when Carrie Ann Inaba was out for two weeks because of side effects from her various autoimmune conditions.
She then announced she is taking a leave of absence from the CBS show.
The Celeb Report broke the news in May that Jerry O’Connell was in final negotiations to replace Sharon on the talk show.
Elaine Welteroth also excited the program after just one season on the panel.
