The Talk co-host and comedian Sheryl Underwood revealed she misses former co-host and fellow panelist Sharon Osbourne after her firing due to a racism controversy.
“I miss her,” Underwood told People. “You can’t work with somebody for all that time. I have an equation that I use — time plus distance equals clarity.”
Osbourne exited the show last year after an intense discussion regarding Piers Morgan’s controversial comments on Meghan Markle following her much-publicized interview with talk show legend Oprah Winfrey.
“I very much feel like I’m about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend, who many people think is a racist, so that makes me a racist?” Osbourne angrily asked Underwood at the time, adding, “For me at 68 years of age to have to turn around and say, ‘I ain’t racist.’ What’s it gotta do with me? How can I be racist about anybody or anything in my life?”
Underwood joined the CBS daytime talk show and hosted alongside Osbourne in 2011. During the interview, Underwood revealed her fondness for Osbourne, despite her unceremonious exit from the show.
“When you work in daytime with somebody, 220 shows, four days a week, traveling with them, talking to them, you can’t forget that,” she continued.
Their former co-host Holly Robinison Peete has been critical of Osbourne
“I’m old enough to remember when Sharon complained that I was too ‘ghetto’ for #theTalk…then I was gone,” Robinson Peete tweeted during the controversy. “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.”
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 ♀️ ♀️#fbf https://t.co/7pnCnhM5rf pic.twitter.com/CXR4DzvlEZ— Holly Robinson Peete ♍️ (@hollyrpeete) March 12, 2021
She also wrote more about her experience on Instagram, writing that watching Osbourne speak to Underwood that way “triggered” her.
“I’ve been a highroad girl but when I watched what everyone else saw on my former show @thetalkcbs it triggered me and I wanted to speak out,” she wrote. “Much respect to Sheryl Underwood who really should’ve been able to express her emotions on TV however she wanted to. It was also not her job to educate a grown woman. I have always felt that ignoring, defending excusing or amplifying racism, bigotry and discrimination is unacceptable. When you know better you are supposed to do better. #isaidwhatisaid.”
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Back then, Underwood has addressed the controversy on her podcast
“This day? This show? In the name of Jesus, I had to pull myself together,” she said at the time.
She added that she knew she had the weight of representation for Black women and Blackness as a whole riding on how she reacted.
She also said she felt she was called to be part of the bigger discussion about racism.
“I have to stay in the position that God put me in. I’m the catalyst for the bigger discussion. the bigger discussion is do you not see what this is about?” she said. “…It’s the power of us holding microphones and sitting in front of cameras and there’s a responsibility to that.”
