Sharon Osbourne experienced quite a challenging month in March 2021 when she sparked outrage for supporting her longtime pal Piers Morgan after he had bashed Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s CBS tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.
While the public believed Piers had a “racist stance” on Meghan ever since she joined the Royal Family, Sharon came to her friend’s defense after he quit his job as a news anchor on Good Morning Britain following an intense showdown with his fellow co-host Alex Beresford.
When Sharon addressed the situation in an episode on The Talk, she went ballistic when she came under the impression her fellow panelists had “set her up” and subsequently portrayed her to be a racist herself, which she strongly denied.
The CBS daytime show was taken off-air for the foreseeable future while producers investigated the matter as fans said they were appalled by Sharon’s behavior towards Sheryl Underwood, who attempted to explain why Piers’ views on Meghan came off as racist, but Sharon kept her guard up by talking over her co-host and failing to acknowledge the root of the issue.
As the show went on a hiatus, former panelist Leah Remini came forward and reinitiated her feud with Sharon, who she famously claimed got her booted from the show, adding that Mrs. O would often make offensive jokes in her presence.
Leah Remini Calls Out Sharon Osbourne… Again
After just one season on the Emmy award-winning chat show, Leah Remini was let go from her contract, despite a successful first run with her co-panelists Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Holly Robinson Peete, Marissa Winokur, and, of course, Sharon.
But Leah wasn’t the only person that was given the boot. She was joined by Holly and Marissa, who were also told that they wouldn’t be returning for a second run of The Talk, which had already been picked up by CBS for another season.
The King of Queens actress had made it no secret ever since her departure that Sharon allegedly had played a part in getting her removed from the show, claiming that the mother of three deemed her and Holly as “too ghetto” for their daytime program.
In a Twitter Q&A session with fans, Leah said, ”Sharon thought me and Holly were ''Ghetto,'' (her words) we were not funny, awkward and didn't know ourselves.” If that wasn’t enough, the 50-year-old apparently made the request to have several women fired. "Sharon said she asked 4 us to be fired.”
While Leah and Holly were devastated to find out that The Talk, which they helped become one of the highest-rated talk shows on US television at the time, was moving on without them, they soon realized that Sharon was behind their exit, which she allegedly admitted to during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show.
"I didn't claim this; she admitted this on Howard Stern,” Leah tweeted to her fans on Twitter as many viewers found it hard to believe that Sharon would hold such weight at CBS that she could get someone fired when she, herself, had only been part of The Talk for one season.
Ozzy Osbourne’s wife decided to take the matter into her own hands by addressing Leah’s claims in a lengthy tweet where she wrote, "Let me just go on the record to say…
"I had absolutely nothing to do [with] her departure from the show & have no idea why she continues to take to Twitter to spread this false gossip. Leah knows that I have never been in the position to hire or fire anyone on the show. It's been seven months. It's time to move on."
In 2021, amid Sharon’s downfall on The Talk following her comments regarding Piers, Leah once again shed light on how her ex-colleague had built up a reputation for bad behavior behind the scenes, asserting that Mrs. O would go as far as to refer to her former co-host Julie Chen as “slanty eyes” and “wonton.”
As for Sara Gilbert, Sharon would allegedly call her “p**** licker” and “fish eater.”
Also in March, Holly doubled down on Leah’s remarks by making a statement of her own. She took to her official Twitter page and wrote, “I’m old enough to remember when Sharon complained that I was too “ghetto” for #theTalk...then I was gone.
“I bring this up now bc I was mortified watching the disrespectful condescending tone she took w/her co host who remained calm & respectful because...she HAD to.”
Sharon has yet to share with fans what she plans on doing next following her untimely departure from one of CBS' flagship shows.