“The Talk” Is Now On Extended Hiatus As Leah Remini Reports On Sharon’s Past Racist And Homophobic Talk

Don’t bother looking for a new episode of The Talk today, CBS hasn’t decided if Sharon Osbourne’s continued employment is compatible with having “a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace” just yet. According to Sharon’s former co-host Leah Remini, it sure as hell wasn’t back when she was on the show. Entertainment Tonight reports that Leah told journalist Yashar Ali that Sharon “frequently” used racist and homophobic language when talking about co-hosts Julie Chen and Sara Gilbert. Leah also backed up Holly Robinson Peete’s claims that Sharon used the word “ghetto” and says that Sharon also referred to her “as a WOP and Guinea.” Meanwhile, Sharon still insists she’s not racist in the least, so it looks like CBS has got a real mystery on their hands!

Sharon must be really shitting her pants because she gave ET an entire interview in which she admits she “conducted [herself] really badly, really badly,” but only because she was “blindsided,” “set up,” “hurting,” “pissed off,” and had “been pounced on.” So nothing new there. She’ll let us know if she decides to ever go back. But just so you know, her only crime was losing her cool.

“I let myself down,” she adds. “I let her down by losing my cool, by not centering myself to say, ‘OK, for some reason they’re doing this to me … you’re on national TV, stay calm, stay calm.’ and I didn’t. So. I blew it. But that does not make me a racist.”

In a statement to ET on Tuesday, CBS shared that The Talk‘s hiatus will be extended until next Tuesday after the show was set to return on Wednesday.

Sharon added that she reached out to her co-host Sheryl Underwood after telling Sheryl not to cry during a conversation about Piers Morgan, and Sheryl hasn’t responded. And as for if Sharon is going back to The Talk:

“I wish we could go on and have a adult conversation calmly and work it out but I don’t know whether we can,” she says. “I don’t know whether it’s gone past that. I would love to but I don’t know whether I even want to go back. … I don’t know whether I’m wanted there.”

Here’s Sharon doing more damage control on ET if that’s what you want to see today:

As for the claims of Sharon’s past least racist behavior, Leah describes a workplace so toxic, that CBS probably should have had Silkwood showers installed in every dressing room. Leah was fired from The Talk along with Holly back in 2011.

Just after our interview concluded, a new report surfaced on Tuesday afternoon from journalist Yashar Ali in which former The Talk co-host Leah Remini claimed that Osbourne frequently referred to previous co-hosts Julie Chen, who is Chinese American, “as ‘wonton’ and ‘slanty eyes,'” and called Sara Gilbert “who is a lesbian, as ‘pussy licker’ and ‘fish eater.'”

“[I was] easily manipulated into a web of high school vitriol, hatred and bullying,” Remini claims in the article, alleging that Osbourne would refer to her “as a WOP and Guinea,” which are racial slurs used against Italians. “Not only did I do nothing about the racism and bullying I was receiving and witnessing, I was party to it. I had to own up to my own ugly.”

“Although being fired was devastating at that time, in part because someone we considered a friend turned on us for a show we helped to create, I am grateful for the time away to do the work I needed to do,” she continues. “Coming from Scientology, where racism, bullying and bigotry is taught, I had to unlearn a lot. I’m still learning and hopefully evolving. I can’t say that Sharon has focused on the work she needs to do.”

Well, that’s probably because she has her publicist doing the work for her. Here’s what he had to say in response to Leah’s claims.

“The only thing worse than a disgruntled former employee is a disgruntled former talk show host. 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. She will survive this, as she always has and her heart will remain open and good, because she refuses to let others take her down. She thanks her family, friends and fans for standing by her and knowing her true nature.”

If that’s not proof enough that Sharon’s not physically or spiritually capable of racism, then I don’t know what else you need. But just in case you are still on the fence, here’s a CVS receipt length thread of evidence to the contrary.

1. Exclusive: Sharon Osbourne, co-host of the CBS daytime panel show “The Talk,” would frequently refer to then-co-host Julie Chen, who is Chinese American, as “wonton” and “slanty eyes,” according to multiple sources. https://t.co/6A4DrRnSVx

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) March 16, 2021

Pic: Wenn.com