Kelly Osbourne's 'Latinos clean toilets' comment the latest in trainwreck TV on 'The View'
OPINION - During a recent airing of The View, Kelly Osbourne did two things that offer a teachable moment in race relations. The first was that she made a statement about Latinos that some felt was racist...
During a recent airing of The View, Kelly Osbourne did two things that offer a teachable moment in race relations. The first was that she made a statement about Latinos that some felt was racist.
During a segment about Donald Trump’s controversial and blatantly racist statements about Latinos (Mexicans in particular) and his desire to deport all undocumented Latinos, Kelly said, “If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilet, Donald Trump?”
There was a marked silence for a beat, and then fellow co-host Rosie Perez chimed in, “Latinos are not the only people to do that,” and noted that Latinos work in many industries.
Kelly became defensive and retorted, “Come on! You know I would never mean it like that.”
Co-host Michelle Collins kept the coolest of heads when she said, “I think you were trying to say that he utilizes a lot of the people he’s insulting.”
In all fairness, that probably is what Kelly meant to say. From what Kelly has shared of her life publicly and her valiant defense of her friend Zendaya from unkind words by former Fashion Police co-host Giuliana Rancic, there is no reason to believe that Kelly is in Donald Trump’s racist camp.
However, Kelly’s response to Rosie’s perfectly logical statement was unwarranted. Rosie made factual statements about the Latino population in the United States. Her words were of service not only to Kelly but to the viewing audience. Kelly took that information personally and made it all about her by replying with a defensive, “You know I would never mean it like that.”
One sure way to make sure people know you don’t “mean something like that” is to not say “that.” Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and Kelly flubbed on live television. Because her flub was race/ethnicity/culture related, she immediately put up her defenses instead of being open to the information offered by Rosie.
Perhaps a better response would have been to listen to what Rosie had to say, nod in agreement (since it was the truth) and say something to the effect of, “I understand that, yes. I’m sorry I misspoke. I was trying to say that Trump and his cronies don’t get that. They have a very limited view of the Latino population, and I certainly don’t agree with it.”
It’s not like Rosie called her a raving racist or even insinuated that. Other celebs took to Twitter to do just that, though, and some Twitter users included the hashtag #QueridaKellyOsbourne to school her on the issue.
https://twitter.com/aintilatina/status/628657695327952896
https://twitter.com/aintilatina/status/628657916489375744
https://twitter.com/PalmTreesnGz/status/628623818618081280
https://twitter.com/benschwartzy/status/628760300758679552
https://twitter.com/kikehndez/status/628632881464758272
https://twitter.com/SherriEShepherd/status/628609475864326144
Though former The View co-host Sherri Shepherd had harsh words for Kelly, she eventually cut her a little slack.
https://twitter.com/SherriEShepherd/status/628610380395335681
In today’s world, awkward or flat-out wrong public statements about race from celebrities are followed by a digital flogging and then a public apology. This instance was no different, except that the first apology came from Rosie, and it was directed towards Kelly.
https://twitter.com/rosieperezbklyn/status/628605792334258176
Interesting and sad that Rosie felt the need or desire to apologize. She did nothing wrong and did not demonize Kelly in any way on the show. Yes, Kelly obviously felt uncomfortable with her exchange with Rosie, but learning about how to appropriately and accurately talk about race and culture can get uncomfortable. Growth doesn’t always feel good in the moment.
Kelly posted her “apology” (of sorts) online.
Her apology started out well enough with acknowledging that she has to take responsibility for her actions, and she apologized for misspeaking. Then she talked about how she’s not a racist, and it was downhill from there. For some reason, she felt the need to say that Rosie cut her off mid-sentence (which is not true) and how she’s learned a valuable lesson and hopes this flub will open up a conversation about the “Latin community” and immigration.
If she learned a valuable lesson, she did not mention it in this “apology.” She spoke of taking responsibility because it was live television. No. Take responsibility because the words spoken were offensive, wrong and in need of correction. She should have hired Giuliana’s PR team. Her apology was golden.
Lately, The View has been on a roll with at least one viral comment per week from one of the co-hosts or guests, whether it’s Whoopi talking about Bill Cosby or Raven-Symoné talking about anything race related. That’s great for ratings and social media impressions, but it is also positive in a way because once all of the sensationalist chatter becomes background noise, productive conversations and social media discussions like #QueridaKellyOsbourne occur.
As for this moment, it has hopefully taught some segment of Americans who need to learn it that having your foot in your mouth happens, even about important topics and even when you feel like you are on the “right” side. If someone corrects what you say about a group you do not belong to (especially someone who is a member of the talked about group), the first thing to do is to listen. Take in what is being said and be humble enough to understand that you could be (and very likely are) wrong. Accept that, and if you are wrong, apologize, take in the information given to you, and engage in a dialogue in such a way that you can walk away with more knowledge and understanding than you arrived with. Having more culturally educated people in this country is well worth a few bruised egos.
That little life lesson is not just for race and ethnicity but also gender, sexual orientation, mental health and any number of boxes that we tend to group people. We could all stand more enlightenment.
Follow Demetria Irwin on Twitter at @Love_Is_Dope and connect with her on Facebook.
