Sharon Osbourne is speaking out about her ouster from “The Talk” earlier this year, firing shots at her former employers and co-hosts. According to Osbourne, she was “totally betrayed” in the incident.
In March, Osbourne publicly defended Piers Morgan’s comments about Meghan Markle against accusations of racism during an episode of “The Talk,” leading co-host Sheryl Underwood to get visibly upset. In an interview with DailyMailTV published on Monday, Osbourne doubled down on her claim that the conversation was actually orchestrated by CBS and her co-hosts, who wanted to create live controversy.
“To leave me for 20 minutes on live TV … on live TV … unprepared, not produced, not knowing what’s going on,” Osbourne said. “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?”
Osbourne added that she believes she was targeted because she had the largest following of the hosts.
“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,” she said. “So they thought, well, she’s got the biggest following. Let’s go for her.”
Reps for CBS did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment, but directed The Daily Mail to their original statement on Osbourne’s exit in March.
“Sharon Osbourne has decided to leave ‘The Talk,’” the statement said at the time. “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 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.”
Still, Osbourne does not believe that to be true. “I felt totally betrayed, not protected by CBS. I felt used. I felt like an old shoe,” she added to The Daily Mail. “They didn’t care. It was a set up and it was set up by one of the executives.”
The former talk show host added that she hasn’t spoken to Underwood since her exit, and likely won’t speak to her again.