Sharon Osbourne says she was a 'lamb slaughtered' at The Talk in new cancel culture series
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Sharon Osbourne's media comeback is taking aim at her departure from CBS' The Talk last year.
The TV personality's four-part Fox Nation series Sharon Osbourne: To Hell and Back debuts Monday and will purportedly highlight how she found herself "in the crosshairs of the cancel culture movement" following an on-air dust-up with The Talk cohost Sheryl Underwood over controversial comments Piers Morgan made about Meghan Markle.
In a clip shared on Fox & Friends Sunday, Osbourne slams CBS' handling of the events that led to her ouster. "I was this lamb slaughtered that morning," she says, "and CBS denied responsibility."
Cliff Lipson/CBS via Getty Images Sharon Osbourne on 'The Talk'
Appearing on Fox & Friends to promote her series, Osbourne lamented the ways "cancel culture" has allowed people to "destroy my life because of the way I feel."
"I've worked in this industry for 50 years — actually, 55," she said. "I didn't want that to be the end of my career, and I thought it was unfair." Doubling down on her defense of Morgan, she said, "I'm not racist. He's not racist, but because he said something about somebody who is mixed race… I said, 'That's nothing to do with that.' He knew Meghan for a long time, so he's talking from experience."
Not long after Osbourne's contentious on-air exchange with Underwood — wherein Osbourne defended her friend Morgan for his incendiary comments about Markle in the wake of her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey — multiple crew members accused Osbourne of toxic and racist behavior during her tenure on the show, including claims that she called former cohost Julie Chen "wonton" and "slanty eyes" and Sara Gilbert, who is a lesbian, a "p---y licker."
A representative for Osbourne denied the allegations. "The only thing worse than a disgruntled former employee is a disgruntled former talk show host," the rep told EW at the time. "For 11 years Sharon has been kind, collegial and friendly with her hosts as evidenced by throwing them parties, inviting them to her home in the U.K. and other gestures of kindness too many to name. Sharon is disappointed but unfazed and hardly surprised by the lies, the recasting of history and the bitterness coming out at this moment."
Following a probe, CBS ultimately parted ways with Osbourne in March 2021. "The events of the March 10 broadcast were upsetting to everyone involved, including the audience watching at home," the network said in a statement. "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. We also did not find any evidence that CBS executives orchestrated the discussion or blindsided any of the hosts."
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