Entertainment Tonight's Kevin Frazier is in hot water after suggesting Black people hold a race "summit" in order to educate The Talk host Sharon Osbourne and The Bachelor host Chris Harrison.
Frazier interviewed Osbourne on Tuesday and then took to Instagram to suggest Black people need to help Osbourne and Harrison "move forward," in a now-deleted post.
"At some point we all have to reach a point where we can sit together and have tough conversations about race. I don't know what happens next for Sharon Osbourne but I do know, it is time for a meaningful conversation, a learning moment," Frazier wrote.
"She is ready, Let's not waste this opportunity to move the narrative forward. Let's get Chris Harrison, let's get Michael Eric Dyson, Meghan Markle, Sharon, Amanda Seales, Sheryl Underwood, Holly Robinson Pete, y'all suggest some names and have a summit. Let's move FORWARD," he added.
9. ET host @KevinFrazier is coming under fire for giving a softball interview to Sharon Osbourne where she largely deflected blame and then suggesting that Holly Robinson Peete and Sheryl Underwood, two of the Black women who were targeted by her, join her for a summit on racism. pic.twitter.com/5Vx8e4561o
— Yashar Ali ???? (@yashar) March 17, 2021
The ET host was already facing backlash from some for the way he allowed Osbourne to paint herself as the victim despite lashing out at her co-host Sheryl Underwood and past insults toward former co-host Holly Robinson Peete, who said Osbourne called her "ghetto" before getting her fired, as Blavity previously reported.
But Frazier said Underwood, Peete and other Black women like Amanda Seales should get together and help Osbourne and threw in Harrison, who stepped aside from hosting the popular reality show after defending a contestant's right to attend Southern Civil War-themed parties in 2018.
Frazier eventually deleted the post after Seales responded by bashing him for even suggesting the idea.
“It is not the responsibility of Black folks to educate white folks on how they cannot be trash ass folks. Why the — we gotta teach you how to not be racist. To expect us to do that and to, as a Black person, try and rally up folks into that space is, one, just foolish and also not respectful of our time and of our energy,” Seales said in a 5-minute video posted to Instagram.
“I want you to consider how backward it is that you and your producers felt it was important to provide a platform for this disingenuous, lying a** treacherous broad, instead of creating a safe space for those who have had to feel the effects of her attacks,” she added.
She went on to say "cut the Kumbaya tactics," and added that it was the responsibility of those who have created the offense to do their own learning for themselves.
“You must be outta yo g*****n mind. How bout you put your energy into providing a safe space for those on the show who have been terrorized by her rampant racism/classism/xenophobia,” the Insecure star said.
Seales was incensed that Frazier was asking the victims of Osbourne's racism to have "to come and have a nice little sitdown with their attacker so that this b***h can feel better? No, we are not on the rehabilitate white people train.”
Frazier sent out a new post on Wednesday apologizing for the suggestion and explaining his intentions.
"Listen, I was suggesting that there be a place, in the mainstream where people (like Sheryl and Holly) could actually express their feelings without being muted or muzzled (and I can tell you that there were people who worked to mute Hollys voice after she left). That in the same arena where the transgressions occurred that they could be corrected," he wrote.
"We are rarely given an opportunity to speak freely in those forums. The people I mentioned and the voices I suggested are people who I think have something important to say. Unfortunately that message was not delivered or received well," he continued.
He also defended his interview with Osbourne, saying it was 90 minutes long and much of his alleged tough questioning was cut out of the version that appeared on air.
According to New York Post, Peete responded to Frazier by thanking him for acknowledging what happened to her.
“Thank you for acknowledging the way I was treated after being let go from The Talk in such an unnecessary, mean-spirited way. Sharon was a part of that. She knows it. No matter what she says. Now it’s all coming out and I don’t think she is close to being ‘ready’ for any kind of accountability. That’s just my opinion,” she said.
The Talk has temporarily stopped filming due to the controversy over Osbourne's comments. Co-host Elaine Welteroth and her hairdresser filed a formal complaint with CBS about what Osbourne has said to former hosts of color and for her words to Underwood, where she lashed out at any criticism of her defense of Piers Morgan.
