Sharon Osbourne has been known to have a loose tongue throughout her career, and it looks to be finally catching up with her. Her talk show, The Talk, is on hiatus after an on-air argument between Osborne and her co-host Sheryl Underwood over a discussion on whether comments made by Piers Morgan were racist.
Osborne was confrontational during the debate and at one point said "Don't try and cry because if anyone should be crying, it should be me." You can watch the original clip and see the context here.
Today, new accusations have been levied against Osbourne, confirmed by other former co-hosts. Reporter Yashar Ali posted a new article detailing accusations of verbal abuse and racism against the Osbourne matriarch.
One aspect of the article focuses on Osborne's criticism of her former co-host Julie Chen, who is married to Les Moonves, the chairman of CBS at the time. It also mentions the coarse way she would refer to her other co-host Sara Gilbert, who is a lesbian. The accusations were confirmed by actress Leah Remini, who was also a host on the show at the time.
From the beginning, Osbourne also objected to Chen having any leadership role on the show and repeatedly tried to rally Remini and Robinson Peete in an effort to marginalize Chen, Remini said. According to Remini, in one exchange during the first season, Osbourne said of Chen: “I mean, who the fuck does slanty eyes think she is? She shouldn’t be pillow-talking with our boss.”
In another exchange, according to Remini, Osbourne said of Gilbert: “Why won’t the pussy licker do anything about the wonton?” and “Why won’t the fish eater be part of this discussion? She’s the fucking executive producer.”
Remini also says that Osbourne would refer to her as a WOP and Guinea which are ethnic slurs used against Italians.
Another accusation in the article focuses on a talent agent who was invited to a New Years party by Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne by their son Jack, leading to months of alleged abuse and harrassment.
Renee Tab, who now runs her own management and production company, was a 26-year-old literary agent at ICM, the powerhouse talent and literary agency, in 2003 when she became a target of Osbourne.
That year, Tab attended a New Year’s Eve party hosted by Osbourne and her husband that doubled as a ceremony to renew their vows and was being filmed for their reality show. Tab attended the party as the guest of an invited guest. At the party, mock credit cards were handed out to attendees, who could accrue points by playing casino games and be entered for a prize: a necklace and earrings set worth $15,000 (though some reports claim it was worth $40,000). Tab won the raffle.
The next day, Tab learned that Sharon Osbourne was accusing her of stealing the jewelry because she wasn’t a guest directly invited by Osbourne but instead attended with a guest invited by her son Jack Osbourne.
Osbourne called Tab on Jan. 1, 2003, in the evening and, according to Tab, called her a “Persian carpet cunt.” (Tab is Iranian American.)
Renee's agency released a statement backing her and saying the Osborne family owed her an apology. Months later, Osborne confronted the agent at a restaurant in LA and referred to her again as a “Persian carpet cunt,” and police had to be called to the scene. You can read the detailed report in Ali's article.
As a result of this new report, The Talk is now on hiatus for the rest of the week. It was originally supposed to return to the air tomorrow, Wednesday, March 17th.
