Elaine Welteroth Spoke Out After Audio Leaked Of Her Consoling Sharon Osbourne After That Fight On “The Talk”

That March 10 fight on The Talk lives on. During that episode, Sharon Osbourne decided to defend her good friend Piers Morgan when co-host Sheryl Underwood was calling out what she considered racist undertones of his constant critiques of Meghan Markle. The fight wound up costing Sharon her job and she claimed it was a hit job set up by producers. Audio recently leaked in which co-host Elaine Welteroth sort of co-signed Sharon’s theory by suggesting she too thought the conversation producers wanted them to have was going to go South. Sure did! Elaine has now called out the recording and says it does not “absolve responsibility” of certain people’s actions.

Last week The Daily Mail posted some audio of Elaine being nice to Sharon after that disaster conversation. It seems that Elaine is very much trying to console Sharon who’s clearly crying about having to defend herself as not racist. via People:

“They asked me to ask that question. I said, “No I’m not going to ask that question,”” Welteroth said to Osbourne in the recording. “I said, “Wait, what’s the intention of this conversation? Because this can go left so fast.” … I said to them, “This is going to be a train wreck.””

“Sharon I’m just so sorry that went the way that it went,” Welteroth added as Osbourne responded, “Do you know what it is, though? When you have to sit there and defend yourself, it makes you look guilty because you can’t get out of it.”

The recording also captured Welteroth telling Osbourne, “I know you’re upset. I know it was terrible, but I just hope that once this blows over that you know Sheryl is your friend. She really is your friend. She doesn’t think you’re racist. I don’t think you’re racist. No one who knows you would ever say that or feed that.”

Replied Osbourne: “But why couldn’t she have said, ‘I’ve known you for 11 years, I know you are not racist,’ instead of “I don’t think you are, no, I know you aren’t.” There’s a huge difference.”

Of course, this paints a different picture since former co-hosts came out and said Sharon was always awful, and Elaine and her hairstylist reportedly complained to CBS about some of Sharon’s racially insensitive comments.

Here’s the leaked audio:

After the audio came out, Elaine gave a statement to Entertainment Tonight and said that she stands by everything she’s said about this, even consoling Sharon:

“I thought we had closed the painful, public chapter of the controversy related to the March 10th show… I reluctantly wade into this now simply to ensure that, as a Black woman, I am not silenced or side-lined… What I am sharing today is consistent with what I have already shared on camera. Nothing has changed. It is not news that I did not call Sharon a racist and it is certainly not news that the way the show unfolded caught us all by surprise. None of us wanted that day to go how it did and I do not regret sharing these feelings in a private conversation with a colleague. I welcome fair, constructive dialogue and I am no stranger to tough conversations about race. But I will not be vilified for telling the truth, on or off-air.”

But Elaine then brought the claws out a little, saying she was recorded illegally. She did deny ever complaining to CBS about Sharon, though.

“To set the record straight, it was not a hot mic — I was unlawfully recorded without consent. And I never filed a complaint with HR against Sharon Osbourne or anyone else. I am disheartened, however, that my kindness has been taken out of context and weaponized in an attempt to absolve responsibility for someone else’s actions.”

She finished by being a good talk show host and doing some light promo for the new season which will have a new co-host, Jerry O’Connell.

“I was honored to join The Talk to add my voice to important and lively conversations. I am so excited about the next chapter with our new co-host Jerry O’Connell and I am grateful for the new perspectives he will bring to the show.”

And that’s how you slap at a former co-host while promoting a new season.

Sharon didn’t directly respond to the audio that her team TOTALLY didn’t leak, but she did tweet this:

Responding to A LOT of e mails today 😉 pic.twitter.com/qwZArDK97Q

— Sharon Osbourne (@MrsSOsbourne) July 17, 2021

“Leave me out of this, LAY-DEEEEEE” is probably the Ghost of Jerry Lewis’ response to that.

Pic: Wenn.com