Sharon Osbourne Gone From The Talk TV Show and Suing CBS

CBS has come to a decision, or Sharon Osbourne has, following an investigation into a discussion involving racism on The Talk TV show: Osbourne is the last original member of the show to exit. The Talk will resume April 12.

You can watch the clip in question below, but to summarize the situation in case it’s taken down, Osbourne was defending herself for defending her friend, Piers Morgan over his comments regarding Megan Markle. Morgan said he thought Markle was lying in her interview with Oprah. Osbourne says for the 10+ years on The Talk she was always involved in every segment planning but when she was questioned about her friend the producers didn’t include her in the segment discussion and caught her off guard.

Here is the exchange between Osbourne and co-host Sheryl Underwood.

CBS put the show on hiatus and investigated.

“The events of the March 10 broadcast were upsetting to everyone involved, including the audience watching at home. As part of our review, we concluded that Sharon’s behavior toward her cohosts 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,” the statement obtained by Us Weekly read. “At the same time, we acknowledge the network and studio teams, as well as the showrunners, are accountable for what happened during that broadcast as it was clear the cohosts were not properly prepared by the staff for a complex and sensitive discussion involving race.”

Sharon Osbourne Exits ‘The Talk’ After Controversy

What sinks Osbourne in this exchange with Underwood the most isn’t sticking up for Morgan, it’s her tense exchange with Underwood, her friend. It’s disturbing when she admonishes her, telling her not to cry. I thought this was the most telling part of what Sharon Osbourne is like behind the scenes. I mean really like. There are other allegations where Osbourne has said some wild things about former hosts. Who knows if any of that is true, but it has the blood in the water and sharks circling feel to it.

I don’t know Sharon Osbourne, other than her work as manager of her husband Ozzy and the reality show The Osbournes. She’s very well known as a ruthless manager in the music business, but credit her for being one of the most dominant women in the music industry. She is rare in that mostly men play the tough band manager role and she’s somewhat pioneered and carved out that women can be a force in this as well — good for her doing that, of course. She clearly has managed Ozzy’s career in a very profitable way. I don’t think her business savvy can or should be overlooked.

Many music fans, myself included, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate the decision (largely attributed to Sharon Osbourne) to re-record the drums and bass tracks for Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman with different band members when there were legal disputes raised about royalties from original drummer Lee Kerslake and Bob Daisley. Their lawsuit wasn’t successful and it took its toll financially on Kerslake and Daisley. The former, Kerslake just wanted to get a platinum record as acknowledgment for his work when he was sick and dying, which the Osbournes did finally send with get well wishes. Also, the original bass and drums were restored. That, to me, was a terrible, terrible act. You don’t try and erase music history no matter what the band members you worked with do. They could murder people and you still don’t go back and try and erase their existence in music history.

But none of that had anything to do with race. Kerslake and Daisley are both white. This situation with defending her friend, Piers Morgan and her own actions on The Talk are different.

In the back of my mind, I was waiting for Sharon Osbourne to implode somehow. To say and/or do something outrageous that forced her off this show. The fact she made it 10+ years on a talk show giving her opinion on things only to have this situation be her undoing — either because she agreed to quit so she wasn’t fired or because she simply quit — just seems like she was living on borrowed time.

Something tells me there is more to Sharon Osbourne than meets the eye. But is she racist? That’s a heavy accusation. Everyone will have to make their own decision with that. I will admit, despite not finding her to be very personally likable, well, ever I’m not aware of any other time anybody has said she was racist. Is this situation racist? You, friendly readers, can decide. I think whatever the truth is, Sharon Osbourne is one way in front of the camera and public and another way when the cameras are off. I’m sure that’s true for a lot of people, not just Sharon, though. Defending a friend accused of racist actions, doesn’t necessarily brand you a racist.

Sharon isn’t letting this go. She’s lawyered up and suing CBS (source).

What do you think? Do you even care about Sharon Osbourne? She’s off the show now, if you watch the show, will you stop watching it? I have seen the show a few times. It’s a CBS knockoff of The View. I’m not much into daytime talk shows, so Sharon O being off the show isn’t going to matter that much to me. What about you?

I’m more curious when and if Ozzy will ever tour live again and seeing that proposed biopic (see: Ozzy Osbourne “Very Adult” Biopic Under Development, Says Rocker’s Wife). Maybe now that Sharon is off the show giving her grandmotherly opinions (and every talk show should have someone elderly on it, btw), she’ll have more time to plot and plan Ozzy’s return — or alas, his retirement from the music business. Ozzy has earned his retirement. Sharon is 68 years old, maybe it’s time for her and Ozzy to just chill out and enjoy their remaining years out of the public spotlight?